House Dems to GOP: ‘Time is running out’ to fund government

House Democratic leaders on Tuesday warned Republicans that few congressional workdays remain before the Oct. 1 deadline to fund the government.

“So here we are at the table with plenty of room for our Republican friends to join us. We invite them to. It is important for us to begin this negotiation soon. Time is running out. Only three weeks before the end of the fiscal year and we have a great deal of work to do,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at a photo-op.

Congress only has 12 days in session before the deadline to avert a government shutdown, and much of that time will be spent dealing with the nuclear Iran deal.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee and a Maryland Senate candidate, said, “I feel like we’re in the middle of a re-run of a bad movie.”

{mosads}Van Hollen said GOP leaders claimed in 2013 that they wouldn’t allow a government shutdown, and yet it closed for 16 days that October.

“Here we are today, and Tea Party Republicans are again threatening to shut down the government,” he said, adding that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has insisted he wouldn’t allow another shutdown.

“Well if they don’t want it to happen, they should be here at the table with us. They should be here right now negotiating a way to prevent the shutting down of the government,” Van Hollen said. “The fact that they’re not here suggests that once again, they’ve been captured by the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party and they’re perfectly prepared to take the country budget over a cliff.”

Twenty-eight House conservatives now say they will oppose any legislation that continues to fund Planned Parenthood in the wake of controversial videos showing officials discussing the transfer of fetal tissue.

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) said that lawmakers have a template from 2013 to work off of to reach a new compromise on spending levels. The leaders of the Budget Committees that year, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), reached an agreement to relieve sequestration spending ceilings for two years. That agreement expires in about three weeks.

“We have essentially seven days left to go to get this done and we need to work hard after this week to make sure that it is done,” Hoyer said.