Didn't we just go through this?
"Impasse leaves Congress with a week to avoid a shutdown; House goes home; Senate rejects bill" September 24, 2011|By Jennifer Steinhauer and Robert Pear, New York Times
WASHINGTON - The Senate action left Congress mired in an impasse with serious implications for the financing of federal agencies. The House and Senate had been scheduled to begin a weeklong recess yesterday. But without an agreement on a bill to pay for federal operations beginning Oct. 1, the government would run out of money before lawmakers returned.
With House members heading out of town, Speaker John A. Boehner said the only way to advance the legislation, which would replenish the nearly empty coffers of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and finance the federal government through mid-November, would be for the Senate to capitulate and accept the House bill.
“With FEMA expected to run out of disaster funding as soon as Monday, the only path to getting assistance into the hands of American families immediately is for the Senate to approve the House bill,’’ Boehner said. “This is no time for delay.’’
But Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said he had been assured that FEMA had enough money to keep operating and scheduled votes for Monday on a compromise bill.
A spokesman for Representative Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, a Springfield Democrat, said that in the short term, individual assistance and emergency preparedness for cities and towns will not be affected, but long-term assistance could be at risk if FEMA’s budget is depleted....
A spokesman for President Obama expressed alarm at the inability of Congress to reach a deal.
“The members of Congress work for the American people,’’ said the spokesman, Jay Carney, in a briefing with reporters. “We are absolutely confident that the vast majority of those constituents are not asking very much when they insist that Congress perform the basic functions that they were sent here to perform.’’
Sorry, Jay, but the members of Congress work for corporations and AIPAC.
He also criticized House Republicans for pushing a measure the Senate opposed.
“The House Republicans once again passed something that they know can’t pass the Senate and therefore can’t become law, which is a perfect indication,’’ he said, that “the fever hasn’t broken.’’
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Related: US shutdown avoided by disaster aid accord
