U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, thinks the odds for a government shutdown in early October are pretty high based on the contentiousness in Congress and the fractures within the GOP.
In an interview for Talk Business & Politics D.C. Edition, Womack said time is running out without changes to the calendar or support coalescing among warring factions in both political parties.
“Look, I’ve been doing this 15 years. I don’t see any real pathway to getting appropriation legislation done in the House, done in the Senate, conferenced and signed into law by the President. There aren’t even odds in Vegas on this right now. So I mean, there’s no way that’s going to happen,” he said.
“That means that we’re going to take the country – once again – through the threat of a potential government shutdown. And I would say this to you for the record, and that is there is probably as good a chance right now at a potential shutdown as I have seen in recent memory because there are strong divisions – some within my own party – and certainly we’re not going to get any Democrat support based on the numbers that I’m seeing right now in our appropriations markups,” said Womack.
Womack made those remarks on Wednesday (July 16) during a day when Freedom Caucus members of the GOP held out for concessions on a variety of legislation. By week’s end, some progress was made.
A Department of Defense appropriations measure passed 221-209. Three bills tied to cryptocurrency and digital assets cleared the U.S. House and were signed by President Trump. And, the Senate and House approved rescissions packages that cut funding to public broadcasting, foreign aid assistance, and global health programs. All of Arkansas’ Congressional delegation voted for the measures, most of which passed by thin margins.
“We’ve only got about 19 business days, session days left between now and the end of the fiscal year,” said Womack. “So October 1st is rapidly approaching and if we don’t change our calendar, we’re not going to have enough time to get all of this work done sufficient to be able to get to a conference with the Senate and get it signed into law by the 1st of October. My guess is we’ll be in need of another continuing resolution, hopefully for a very short period of time, when we get into late September.”
“Things can change dramatically pretty quickly,” he added. “But the short answer to your question is, you were talking about the 2025 World Series, right? It will come and go. It will be a footnote to history by the time we complete the process here.”
You can listen to Womack’s full interview at this link.
Related
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
