The good news is that no federal employees or service members will receive furlough notices come Saturday. Defense officials said that the harm from short-term funding bills would worsen without an appropriation by the new year. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., proposed a solution that would avoid a total shutdown by funding some agencies through Jan. 19 and others Feb. 2. Democratic lawmakers decried the move as a childish political attack. A niche appropriations debate on multiyear munitions buys has ballooned into one of the numerous partisan standoffs over the defense spending bill. The $826-billion GOP bill to fund the Defense Department faces opposition from all House Democrats and a handful of key Republican lawmakers. Congress' dysfunction is taking its toll on national security as a government shutdown looms and hundreds of officers can't take their posts. Defense and veterans hearings on Capitol Hill for the week of Sept. 18, 2023. Multiple House lawmakers expressed doubt that the expensive vets records project can be saved. The political acrimony represents another serious division with less than three weeks to go before a federal funding lapse triggers a partial shutdown. Load More