Congress is set to return on Monday, September 29, facing a critical deadline to prevent a government shutdown. If lawmakers do not reach an agreement by midnight on October 1, the government will run out of funding. Currently, congressional leaders are engaged in a blame game, with no clear solution in sight for funding approval.

To avert a shutdown, Congress must pass a short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), or approve 12 separate full-year funding bills. However, time is running out, and completing the full-year bills before the deadline is not feasible. Therefore, a stopgap bill is necessary. Unlike comprehensive funding proposals, these bills require at least 60 votes in the Senate. This means that any funding solution will need support from at least seven Senate Democrats if all Republicans back the proposal.

As of now, Democrats and Republicans are at an impasse. Recent attempts to pass a short-term funding bill have failed. Last week, House Republicans, along with one Democrat, passed a bill to fund the government until November 20. However, Senate Democrats blocked this measure shortly after, proposing their own funding bill that included essential health care provisions. Republicans subsequently rejected the Democratic proposal, and no new plans have emerged since then.

Congress is currently in recess, with no plans to reconvene early. Tensions escalated when President Donald Trump canceled a scheduled meeting with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Trump cited the "unserious and ridiculous demands" from Democrats as the reason for his decision, stating on social media that a meeting would not be productive. In response, Democrats accused Trump of avoiding negotiations and warned that he would be held accountable for any resulting shutdown.

On Capitol Hill, Republicans are advocating for a clean short-term funding bill to maintain government operations at fiscal year 2024 levels through November 20. They argue that this would provide additional time to finalize the annual appropriations bills before the next funding deadline. The White House supports this approach, emphasizing the importance of passing a straightforward funding bill without major policy changes.

Republicans have criticized Democrats for not backing this temporary solution, suggesting that they are playing politics with the funding issue. "If [Democrats] want to shut down the government, they have the power to do so, but if they think they are going to gain political points from shutting down the government over a clean nonpartisan CR, something they voted for 13 times under the Biden administration, I would strongly urge them to think again," said Majority Leader John Thune.