Odds Increasingly Favor a Government Shutdown

Washington Post: “When Congress returned to work Sept. 8, it faced a nearly unprecedented number of deadlines and political dramas. The government needs to be funded by Sept. 30, but Congress is way behind in passing the series of spending bills necessary to pass a full budget. Instead, lawmakers will probably try to pass a short-term budget extension that basically keeps spending levels the same as last year and keeps the government open.”

“Even that’s going to be tough. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are using the budget process to push their ideological agendas on everything from abortion to military spending to international nuclear deals. And there’s a presidential campaign going on… Those odds have only increased after Congress’s first week back. Here are four congressional budget analysts’ predictions on how likely it is that the government will shut down at least for a few days. We’ll start with the most conservative estimate — which is still ‘well over 50 percent.'”