Yellen warns of shutdown consequences as Congress races to pass spending bill 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is urging Congress to quickly pass legislation to keep the government funded beyond a looming Friday shutdown deadline.  

“Failing to fund the government by this Friday’s deadline would harm American families and small businesses across the country,” she warned in prepared remarks Wednesday for the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting. 

“I’m heartened there’s bipartisan agreement and urge members of Congress to meet the deadline to prevent an unnecessary shutdown and protect the critical domestic and national priorities we’ve advanced over the past three years,” she added. 

The Senate is now considering a stopgap measure, also known as a continuing resolution (CR), that would extend funding for four of the 12 annual funding bills at current levels through March 1, while negotiators try to hash out new spending levels for fiscal 2024. That includes dollars for agencies including the Food and Drug Administration and the departments of Agriculture; Energy; Transportation; and Housing and Urban Development. 

Lawmakers would extend funding for the remaining eight bills through March 8 under the deal. Agencies funded by those bills include the departments of Defense; Homeland Security; Labor; Health and Human Services; and Education. 

The two-tiered approach is similar to the strategy undertaken by Congress under the last stopgap bill passed in November. Republicans backed the approach at the time as the party pushed against passing another massive omnibus combining all 12 funding bills, though some have raised questions about the effectiveness of the approach.

“That hasn’t made it any easier this time,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a spending cardinal, told The Hill last week. “I don’t know why would make it easier next time. So, I think we just need to pick a date, give the appropriators enough time to deal, recognize it’s got to be bipartisan. There’s no deal that can be negotiated that’s partisan that can pass and let people vote the way they want to.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday he’s hopeful “we can wrap up work on the CR no later than Thursday.” 

“The key to finishing our work this week will be bipartisan cooperation in both chambers. You can’t pass these bills without support from Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate,” he added.