Funding Crunch Threatens to Derail Dem Shutdown Strategy

Nearly a week into the federal government shutdown, Senate Democrats are still withholding their support for a short-term funding extension, but pressure to reopen the government could soon intensify as the government runs out of money to fund certain programs and paychecks.

On Monday, Republicans gained no ground in their latest attempt to reopen the government, with a vote to end debate failing 52-to-42. Republicans need at eight Democrat caucus votes in order to pass the bill, assuming Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., continues to vote against it.

Given that three Republicans did not vote, it appears nobody expected the bill to pass, anyway.

Some Senate Democrats are concerned enough to support Republican efforts to reopen the government, most notably Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. The Daily Signal asked Fetterman if there were specific programs that he was worried about lapsing during the shutdown, and he replied, “The whole government.”

Fetterman added that Democrats can “disagree on all these policies,” but that it is “a core responsibility to keep our government open.”

For now, however, most Senate Democrats are continuing to vote down the short-term funding measure in a game of political chicken set to intensify in short order.

If the government shutdown continues through Oct. 15, military troops and many government employees will miss their first paycheck. 

According to a number of major news outlets, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., identified that mid-October cutoff on a House Republican conference call as a major pressure point for Democrats that could hasten their acquiescence.

If Oct. 15 comes and goes, Oct. 29 would be the next paycheck that personnel could miss if the government remains shut down. If the shutdown made it to Oct. 29, it would be nearing the longest shutdown in American history, which lasted 35 days, during President Donald Trump’s first administration.

Additionally, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, a nutrition and health care program for pregnant women, mothers, and children, could run out of funds in the coming days.

The program has been running on $150 million in contingency funding during the shutdown, but an Office of Management and Budget spokesperson said in a statement that it “will run out of money in October, and women and children could no longer receive benefits.”

Some Republican senators say that they are not worried about interruptions in services just yet.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., for example, says that the closing of Farm Service Agency offices likely will not lead to farmers missing services and payments in his state, given the fact that there is always a lag in those operations.

“Whether the government was open or closed right now, it would take months to get the money there,” he told reporters Monday. “So, I think that [if] we get the government open in a week or three, it won’t impact the timing of getting that out the door.”

He added: “The good news is, I talked to all the FSA offices the day we closed, or the day before we closed, and they were all caught up” on distributing payments to farmers.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., also appears altogether unconcerned about interruptions in government services.

“Haven’t heard any complaints yet,” he told The Daily Signal Monday, when asked whether he worried about any cutoffs in programs. “No complaints.”

What sets this government shutdown apart from previous ones is how the White House has attempted to pressure the Democrats by threatening a Department of Government Efficiency-style reshaping of the government.

OMB Director Russell Vought has repeatedly publicized his shutdown cuts to disfavored programs, and Trump has amplified Vought’s work with memes posted on social media.

But Democrats deny that these tactics will work on them, given that cutting federal programs is business as usual under Trump.

“The way to look at it is, sort of, [to] look at it as the reverse of what Russell Vought said,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told reporters. “‘If this shutdown goes on, I’m going to fire a lot of people,’ [Vought says]. So, if it doesn’t go on, you’re not going to fire a lot of people?”

Kaine continued, “I mean, I believe that he’ll fire people, because he was firing people … before the end of last month. So, I believe that. But how about giving us a commitment that if we do a deal, you won’t? And you won’t claw back money, and you won’t cancel economic development projects in Virginia or take $400 million of public health funding away? So, I’d like to know that if there’s a deal, they’ll honor it.”

There have been three members of the Senate Democrat caucus who have supported the GOP funding extension, fearing the consequences of a shutdown—Fetterman, along with Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.

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