Shutdown countdown: US Congress has four days to fund government

Published Sep 27, 2023 06:03AM ET Updated Sep 27, 2023 03:57PM ET
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to members of the media as the deadline to avert a government shutdown approaches on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 26, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis
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By Moira Warburton, David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday rejected a stopgap funding bill advancing in the Senate, bringing Washington closer to its fourth partial shutdown of the U.S. government in a decade with just four days to go.
That would lead to the furlough of hundreds of thousands of federal workers and the suspension of a wide range of government services, from economic data releases to nutrition benefits, until Congress manages to pass a funding bill that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, would sign into law.
The Senate plan, which advanced on a wide bipartisan margin on Tuesday, would fund the government through Nov. 17, giving lawmakers more time to agree on funding levels for the full fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
McCarthy’s House of Representatives was focusing its efforts on trying to agree on more of the 12 separate full-year funding bills, of which they have so far passed one.