US near-miss with government shutdown illustrates Washington dysfunction
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. narrowly dodged its fourth partial government shutdown in a decade on Sunday, but the past week exposed the depths of political dysfunction in Washington and particularly within the splintered House Republican caucus.
A last-minute decision by Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to turn to Democrats to pass a short-term funding bill pushed the risk of shutdown to mid-November, meaning the federal government's more than 4 million workers can count on continued paychecks for now.
But the mere fact the government came within hours of shutting down — with former President Donald Trump cheering on the idea and just four months after the nation almost defaulted on its $31.4 trillion in debt — raises concerns about Congress' ability to function.
«Congress is not looking very good,» said Sarah Binder, an expert on governance issues at the Brookings Institution think tank. «Arguably, the one thing it has to do every year is pass laws that fund the government, and their inability to do any of them this year is just a ringing indictment.»
The near-shutdown is only the latest example of congressional malfunction.
Hardline conservatives have held up Senate action on hundreds of military promotions over abortion, shuttered the House floor for a week in June and subjected McCarthy to 15 humiliating floor votes before allowing his election in January. They may yet oust him for having compromised with Democrats.
And of course, less than three years have passed since Jan. 6, 2021, when thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to overturn his election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden. Trump is the clear favorite for the Republican
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