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For the second time this year, the U.S. government on Thursday began making formal preparations for a possible federal shutdown, as hard-line House conservatives once again threatened to leave Congress unable to meet a fast-approaching fiscal deadline.

With only eight days remaining before current funding expires, the White House’s top budget office told federal agencies to ready their plans for a major interruption, which could see millions of civilian workers and military personnel sent home or forced to work without pay after Nov. 17.

U.S. braces for costly government shutdown

The scramble underscored the increasingly dire political situation on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have made little progress since staving off the last potential shutdown less than two months ago. Even as the House prepared on Thursday to conclude its legislative work for the week, the chamber still did not have a fully developed plan in hand to extend federal funding, days after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) urged the public to “trust us.”

Complicating matters, a small but powerful bloc of far-right House Republicans has refused to consider any short-term funding deal unless it includes steep budget cuts — an approach that President Biden and his fellow Democrats see as unpalatable. The bloc has been especially emboldened after ousting Johnson’s predecessor in the aftermath of the last debate over government spending.

With no resolution in sight — and time rapidly dwindling — the impasse raised the odds that a wide array of federal programs could grind to a halt next week. It prompted the Office of Management and Budget to hold initial conversations with agencies about the shutdown process, as it usually does one week before funding expires, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private communication.

Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One earlier Thursday, Biden implored the House to “just get to work,” adding: “The idea we’re playing games with a shutdown at this moment is just bizarre.”

In a shutdown, only the most vital government services would function. Seniors could continue to receive Social Security checks and use Medicare benefits, and the U.S. mail would still be delivered. But most federal health-care, education, science, research and labor programs would sputter or cease, unleashing real hardship on American families — and the broader economy — that intensifies with each passing day.

Without funding, the government would pause some federal inspections meant to ensure food and water safety. It could not continue research into cancer cures and other innovative therapies. Some museums, parks and passport offices could close. Seniors could not obtain new Medicare benefit cards. And a slew of federal programs that aid the poor — including those that provide child care, nutrition assistance, college financial aid and housing support — would start to exhaust their reserves in ways that could leave low-income families facing new financial strains.

Approximately 2 million federal workers, meanwhile, could see substantial interruptions in their pay, with some forced to report to the job anyway. That includes bag inspection agents at airports, who protested previous shutdowns by refusing to work, at times snarling air travel. The nation’s 1.3 million active-duty troops similarly must continue to helm their stations without pay — though all of these workers would receive back pay once the shutdown ends.

In recent days, House Republicans have wrangled over how, exactly, to avert a crisis, as they race to adopt a short-term funding measure known as a continuing resolution. GOP leaders have not yet decided for how long to extend federal spending or whether to stagger the funding deadlines for each federal agency — a laddered approach, as party lawmakers have described it, that Democrats find unworkable.

“That’s the craziest, stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, charged on Thursday.

For House Republicans, the task has been especially precarious, as they look to salve their political wounds after a restive far-right minority removed Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker. It took nearly a month before GOP lawmakers could settle on Johnson as a replacement, while the chamber made no discernible progress on funding the government and averting a shutdown.

“We spent three weeks together trying to figure out who the speaker is, we get behind the speaker, we all came together singing kumbaya, holding hands, everything was great,” said Rep. Troy E. Nehls (R-Tex.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus. “Now we are, what, two weeks later — we can’t get appropriations bills — we’re a week away from shutting down the government potentially.”

“Whatever we do, I don’t think anybody in the Republican Party truly wants to shut down the government,” he added. “I’m hoping we don’t get there.”

The two parties also remain at sharp odds over emergency aid for Ukraine and Israel. GOP lawmakers generally support money only for Israel, and they hope to couple the spending with domestic budget cuts and other, unrelated policies, including border enforcement. Democrats broadly disfavor that approach, yet GOP leaders have committed to voting on a bill next week.

“We’re going to keep the government open,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) during an interview earlier Thursday on C-SPAN.

The Senate, meanwhile, took its first procedural step on Thursday toward considering a bill that could extend government funding. The stopgap would permit Congress more time to work out longer-term appropriations bills that would fund the government through Sept. 30, 2024.

But Republicans have struggled to move those spending bills in the House as well: Earlier Thursday, Johnson had to pull from the floor a bill that would fund agencies and programs including the Treasury Department, after moderates balked over its inclusion of language that would bar the District of Columbia from enforcing a local law protecting people who have abortions from discrimination. The loss of support imperiled the bill in the narrowly divided House, where Republicans possess only a slim majority.

The spat marked the second time this week that Johnson has had to withdraw spending legislation amid battles among his party’s warring factions. Broadly, House Republicans hope to slash federal spending on health care, education, science and nutrition, marking a break with some of the more modest changes proposed in the Senate, where the two parties have tried to craft a bipartisan compromise.

Jacob Bogage and Jeff Stein contributed to this report.

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