Time is running out. Saturday is the last day Congress can move to avert a government shutdown before funding expires at 12:01 a.m. Oct. 1, and lawmakers are almost completely out of options.

The House yesterday failed to pass a continuing resolution, or temporary funding measure, that would extend government spending beyond the Oct. 1 deadline. The measure failed to pass after 21 Republicans, including a faction of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, voted against it.

Republicans huddled late Friday afternoon in a closed-door conference meeting in what was a last-minute attempt by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to unite his conference behind a short-term spending measure.

“I think there’s a lot of frustration growing with the 21 individuals who chose to vote no on what was a very good plan,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told reporters following the conference meeting. “I’m very frustrated.”

In a display of how divided conservative hardliners are with the rest of the House GOP conference, most of the 21 members who voted against the measure did not attend the meeting, Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., told reporters.

As time is quickly dwindling for both chambers, a stopgap measure is the only way for lawmakers to avert a shutdown.

Source: Agencies