Why Is Governmwnt Ahutting Down Again
Senate Republicans Threaten Shutdown Over Vaccine Mandate
With federal funding ready to lapse on Friday, President Biden'south requirement for big employers is a sticking betoken over a stopgap spending pecker.
WASHINGTON — A group of Senate Republicans is threatening to delay action on a spending bill needed to avert a lapse in federal funding on Friday unless information technology also bars enforcement of the Biden administration'southward vaccine-and-testing mandate for large employers, heightening the threat of a regime shutdown.
With Congress lagging on finalizing the dozen annual spending bills needed to go on the government running, at that place is broad agreement that lawmakers will demand to pass a stopgap mensurate this week to stave off a shutdown.
But just ii days earlier funding is set to lapse, Democrats and Republicans remain at odds over how long the temporary measure should stretch into 2022 and other details. Congressional leaders in both parties had publicly downplayed the chances of a shutdown, but they conceded on Wednesday that the funding deadline had increased the leverage of lawmakers pressing their own agendas.
"If every member of this chamber used the threat of a shutdown to secure concessions on their own interests, that would lead to chaos for the millions and millions of Americans who rely on a functioning government," said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader.
"It'southward up to the leaders to make sure there's not a shutdown — I'k making sure, and I remember Leader McConnell wants to try to brand sure, also," he added, referring to Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader.
On Tuesday, Mr. McConnell flatly said, "We won't shut downwards."
Still, the objections over the vaccine mandate have threatened already fraught bipartisan talks and raised the prospect of at least a temporary lapse in funding, presenting the outset hiccup for Senate Democrats in a cluttered month. They are juggling efforts to fund the government, raise the debt ceiling, consummate a hulking military policy bill and enact their marquee $ii.2 trillion domestic policy legislation — all before Christmas.
Republicans said the spending bill offered them their all-time chance to push button back on vaccine requirements that President Biden announced in November. They appeared to bask the political message they could send their constituents by forcing a regime shutdown, even equally the nation grapples with the emergence of the Omicron variant.
"I think this is the fight — this is where we have the nearly leverage actually to achieve stopping the mandate," said Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, one of the lead Republicans pushing for the provision. "I think that folks back dwelling house want to know how hard we're fighting for them, that the jobs dorsum home are as important equally keeping the federal authorities open up."
The far-right House Freedom Caucus wrote to Mr. McConnell on Wed, asking him to use "all procedural tools at your disposal to deny timely passage" of the legislation.
The push presented a conundrum for Mr. McConnell, a survivor of polio who for months has made a signal of championing coronavirus vaccines and pushing back against misinformation from other Republicans who take questioned their efficacy. And while several Republicans have railed confronting the mandates imposed by the Biden administration, some appeared wary of forcing a shutdown over the matter.
"I think the vast majority of Republicans would not like to see a shutdown, only I don't think that would include everyone," said Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of S Dakota. "And all information technology takes is one person."
Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West Virginia, alleged that "a shutdown is just a useless pathway."
The stopgap legislation remained in limbo every bit lawmakers haggled over the terminate appointment and a provision averting billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare, subsidies and other programs. Plans to vote on the measure on Wednesday were delayed past a day, but lawmakers and aides insisted there was still time to avoid a lapse in funding.
"There is no interest in shutting the regime down," said Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut and the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. "We volition get to an endpoint."
Because the stopgap pecker maintains existing funding, effectively freezing spending levels negotiated with the Trump assistants and a Republican-controlled Senate in 2020, Democrats are pressing to make it as short-lived as possible. But Republicans have pushed to extend the measure.
"I'd like February, March would arrange me — Apr, May," said Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee. "I retrieve it gives u.s. more fourth dimension to seriously sit down downwards."
Lawmakers were also debating boosted spending provisions, including more funding for Afghan refugees. But even if an agreement is reached, the Senate will require unanimous back up to waive a number of procedural steps and swiftly take up the legislation before the Fri deadline.
Without unanimous agreement, the procedure could drag through the weekend, forcing a brief shutdown that would quickly become dire for federal workers and agencies at the beginning of the calendar week. Senate Republicans, with the stiff backing of House Republicans, have threatened to prolong the debate unless the nib prohibits funding for a mandate that all big employers crave their workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to weekly testing.
"I have long said that I am not particularly invested in the timing of a given vote — whether it occurs a few hours earlier or a few hours later," Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, told reporters. "But I remember we should utilize the leverage we accept to fight against what are illegal, unconstitutional and abusive mandates."
Mr. Marshall offered an amendment in September to an earlier stopgap bill that would have barred funds from going toward the implementation and enforcement of the mandate, but it failed in the evenly divided Senate. Some Republicans signaled optimism that a similar amendment vote this week could pacify their colleagues.
The mandate, which the Biden administration had said would go into issue in January, has go ensnared in court challenges. In November, a federal appeals court kept a cake on it in place and declared that the Occupational Safety and Wellness Administration had overreached its authority in issuing it.
Democrats criticized Republicans on Wednesday for threatening to shutter the government over a policy that is aimed at stemming the spread of the pandemic.
"The fact that they want to walk correct upwardly to a government shutdown over a public wellness issue should frighten the American public," said Representative Pete Aguilar, Democrat of California. "That's exactly what they're advocating hither."
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/us/politics/government-shutdown-vaccine-mandate.html
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