President Biden said that nothing is inevitable in politics when asked if a government shutdown is inevitable on Wednesday, as Congress only has a few days left to fund the government.
“I don’t think anything’s inevitable in politics,” the president told reporters in San Francisco, Calif.
When asked what can be done at this point to make sure a shutdown doesn’t happen, Biden replied, “If I knew that, I would have done it already.”
The president’s comments came during a meeting with his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which develops recommendations on science, technology and innovation policy. At the beginning of the meeting, he called on Republicans in the House to act to avert a shutdown.
“If we have a government shutdown, a lot of vital work in science and health could be impacted, from cancer research to food safety,” Biden said. “So the American people need our Republican friends in the House of Representatives to do their job— fund the government.”
The White House has warned of the impacts of a government shutdown on areas such as food assistance, travel and military readiness.
Biden has accused Republicans of not abiding by the debt-ceiling-raising agreement he made with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in May. Under that deal, lawmakers voted for legislation that set ceilings on spending for the next year. Now conservatives in the House are seeking to make deeper cuts than it included.
Congress faces a Saturday deadline to pass legislation to fund the government and prevent a shutdown. The Senate advanced a bipartisan continuing resolution on Tuesday night to avoid a shutdown, but McCarthy told members of his conference earlier on Wednesday that he will not bring that resolution to the floor for a vote after some House conservatives lined up against it.
The Senate resolution, which advanced in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, would fund the government through Nov. 17 and includes roughly $6.15 billion in funding for Ukraine, $5.99 billion in disaster assistance and would temporarily extend the expiring authority of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Source: The Hill
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