What to know on Day 17 of the government shutdown:
- The government shutdown is on Day 17 with no end in sight, after senators failed for the 10th time to resolve the impasse in votes on Thursday.
- The shutdown is now the third-longest funding lapse in modern history, eclipsed only by the shutdowns of 1995 and 2018-19. Shutdowns are a relatively recent phenomenon, having only begun in their current form in 1980.
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune sent the upper chamber home for the weekend after Thursday’s votes, meaning the funding lapse will continue until at least Monday. The House has been out of session since Sept. 19 with no plans to return until the shutdown is over.
- Thune’s office said on Thursday that he will bring up a bill next week that would pay federal employees and military service members who have continued to work during the shutdown. But passing the legislation would require help from Democrats, who blocked a long-term defense spending bill from advancing.
- The agency that oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile told a top GOP lawmaker that it plans to furlough 80% of its staff in the coming days to address a funding shortfall. “These are not employees that you want to go home,” said Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
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Supreme Court to run out of funding Saturday, close to the public “until further notice”
The Supreme Court is expected to run out of federal funding on Saturday, according to Patricia McCabe, the court’s public information officer. Without new money appropriated by Congress, the high court is expected to make changes in its operations to comply with the Anti-Deficiency Act, she said. That law prohibits federal agencies from spending federal dollars in advance or above the amount approved by Congress.
The Supreme Court’s building will be closed to the public “until further notice,” she said. It will, however, stay open for official business.
“The Supreme Court will continue to conduct essential work such as hearing oral arguments, issuing orders and opinions, processing case filings, and providing police and building support needed for those operations,” McCabe said.
