At our nation's capital right now as the government
shutdown is less than a week away this morning.
Some House Republicans are voicing their frustrations with members in
their own party who are holding up the appropriations process,
anyone who says
that we're going to finish all 12 appropriations bills
between now and next Saturday is absolutely hallucinating.
The Senate has not passed a single appropriations bill and
there are 12 of them that have to be passed.
At the same time.
Republican leaders are pushing for a continuing resolution that
would prevent a government shutdown at midnight on Saturday.
Meanwhile,
President Biden is calling on Republicans to do the jobs they were elected to do.
Let's be clear
if the government shuts down.
That means members of Congress members of the US military are
going to have to continue to work and not get paid.
A
government shutdown could impact everything from food safety
to cancer research to head start programs for Children
funding. The government
is one of the most basic responsibilities of Congress
and it's time for the
Republic to start doing the job. America elected them to do.
Congress needs to pass more than 10 spending bills.
This week,
the federal government is now working
to determine which employees could be furloughed
and which ones are considered essential.
Joining me now is Kristen Welker from nbc's Meet the Press. Kristen. Good morning.
Hi, Christie. Good morning. Good to be with you.
So,
less than a week from the October 1st
deadline before we are facing a government shutdown.
And right now we are hearing Republicans blame each other
and Democrats while Democrats are throwing blame on the Republicans.
So this week they need to pass close to a dozen spending bills.
What has to happen to get that done
and avoid a shutdown?
Well, a lot has to happen and
they have to get on the same page Republicans
on Capitol Hill and so far that's not happening.
I talked to one top Republican overnight who
said a shutdown is looking increasingly likely.
So what's really happening here?
You basically have a small group of hard line Republicans who are
digging in on their demands for deep spending cuts that won't pass.
The democratic led Senate won't
get by President Biden's desk.
They're also by the way, threatening speaker mccarthy's speaker.
So it's a really complicated backdrop.
But on the sidelines,
you do have Democrats in the Senate starting to see if they can broker some type of
a deal that would pass the Senate that
would get through the House with Democratic support.
But it's hard to see that there's actually enough time for that to happen.
So the clock is ticking the stakes incredibly high because of course,
it would have ripple effects all across the country.
And again,
in talking to folks on both sides of the aisle,
they say it seems increasingly likely that we may be headed toward a shutdown.
Oh Which then that question becomes, how long will it last?
So in just three days,
we will see the Republican candidates face off in the
second debate while former President Trump will not be there.
He plans to speak at his own event in Detroit Wednesday night.
What do you expect out of the second debate after we saw Vivek Ramaswami
facing the bulk of the criticism from the candidates during the first debate.
It's going to be so interesting.
Former President Trump, the GOP front runner won't be there.
He's going to counter program,
he'll be talking to auto workers striking auto workers in Detroit.
And of course, President Biden, we have learned is going to be going
to Michigan on Tuesday.
But in terms of the debate,
I do think that you are going to see everyone kind of sharpening their attacks.
It will be notable to see if they really continue to train their sights on Ramaswami.
You have seen other candidates like Nikki Haley see a bounce in the poll.
Governor Christie got a bounce in the polling in New Hampshire.
Now, of course, that's just one state,
but he's really focused on the state of New Hampshire,
a place where he thinks he can win and then ultimately gain some momentum.
My overarching question to what extent will
they try to focus on the former president
and try to have that breakthrough moment because so far that just hasn't happened.
Mr Trump is still running away now,
we will have brand new polling out this morning and the Great Steve
Knake is going to be here to help me break it all down.
So we'll take another look at the state of
play heading into the second GOP primary debate.
Always love watching Steve Kornacki break it down.
All right, thanks so much Kristen.
Meet the Press airs at 10 right after 11 week morning news.