Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) did not lift his block of the short-term spending bill that would avert a government shutdown, and the Senate has recessed until 12:01 AM Friday, one minute after government funding runs out and will probably bring the bill up at 1:00 AM or so, and maybe have the final votes by 3:00 AM. So the government is shutting down for we’re not sure how long.
And once again, there has been little effort on the part of the Trump administration to do anything about advising agencies how to deal with it. Like if their employees should show up in the morning or not. Probably because they’ve been too busy trying to figure out how to deal with the fallout from the public discovery that they’ve all been covering up for Rob Porter, the spouse abuser. But I digress.
The Senate will likely end up passing the bill (there’s a tiny bit of a question of that, but Paul is probably pissing off enough of them that they’ll vote for the damned thing just to spite him) around 3:00. Whether the House will take it up immediately is unknown. Relatively early in the evening, House Republican leadership told members to expect votes at “very roughly 3:00-6:00 a.m.”
But Democratic opposition has been solidifying, perhaps because Paul has given everyone enough time to read the thing, and Republican opposition might very well be solidifying too. Congressional reporters having been hearing from Republican leadership that they need anywhere from 40 to 75 Democratic votes to pass it. Which means Paul Ryan is sweating this.
Which means Democrats don’t even vote until all of the Republicans have voted, however long that takes, until it’s clear whether or not he can pass it with Republican votes. Odds are probably 50-50 now that he can’t. But that’s the drama for tomorrow morning.
But if it doesn’t happen? The Republican president called for a shutdown two days ago. A Republican senator made it happen. The Republican House may not be able to pass it. And whose fault is it going to be?