US government teeters on brink of shutdown with no deal in view
Joe Biden's administration issuing increasingly dire warnings of everything from impending border chaos to travel disruptions.
The closure, set to start after midnight Saturday (0400 GMT Sunday) if lawmakers fail to reach a deal, would be the first since 2019 — impacting millions of federal employees and military personnel while threatening the closure of national parks.
The two chambers of Congress are deadlocked, with a small group of Republicans in the House of Representatives pushing back against any stopgap measure that would at least keep the lights on.
On Friday, hardline House Republicans defeated a plan proposed by their own leader to keep funds flowing, with a bill to temporarily fund the government rejected in a 232-198 vote.
The measure involved deep spending cuts and would unlikely have passed the Democratic-majority Senate.
Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young said Friday it was up to hardline Republican lawmakers to resolve the impasse, telling reporters «there is still a chance» of avoiding a shutdown.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added at a briefing that «the conversation is not between the president and McCarthy.»
«The conversation needs to happen between Speaker McCarthy and his caucus.
That's the fix, that's the chaos that we're seeing and that's what he needs to focus on,» she added.
McCarthy, however, earlier blamed Democrats, saying they are the ones blocking a solution.
Park closures
A shutdown would mean the majority of national parks — from the iconic Yosemite and Yellowstone in the west to Florida's Everglades swamp — would be closed to public access beginning Sunday.
Only areas that are physically accessible to the public will remain open with
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