Republicans and the White House continued to clash with Democrats on Monday over a short-term spending measure to avert a government shutdown.
President Donald Trump was scheduled to meet with congressional leaders from both parties to press Democrats to back the bill, known as a continuing resolution, that will keep the government funded through late November. As the deadline nears, members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation have conceded that with House Republicans not expected to return to Washington, D.C this week, a shutdown is all but certain.
“It is fairly likely that a shutdown will happen, and it will impact our federal workforce in the state,” U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-NM-01, said Friday during a call with several New Mexico media outlets.
New Mexico, according to statistics from July, has 28,400 federal government employees, making up about 3% of the state’s workforce.
“This is going to affect all major federal agencies operating in the state, and could impact every major federal employer, including everything from the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) to Veterans Services to BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) to the Forest Service,” Stansbury said.
Republicans in Congress and Trump are continuing to call for passage of a clean continuing resolution, while lawmakers work to craft a longer-term spending package. Such a measure narrowly cleared the House on Sept. 19 but failed to secure the filibuster-proof majority necessary for passage.
Democrats have withheld their support, calling for a meeting with Trump and conditioning their votes for such a bill on having several policy changes attached to it, including the extension of premium tax credits that help lower-income and working-class individuals afford to buy health insurance on the public marketplace and are set to expire later this year.
Healthcare analysts and Democrats have said that the failure to extend the credits could lead to a jump in the number of uninsured and spark dramatic increases in premiums for everyone else.
“This could be economically catastrophic for, especially working families, and for businesses that depend on having that subsidy to help cover the costs for health insurance,” Stansbury said.
Other demands Democrats are seeking to get in exchange for a possible continuing resolution include repealing portions of the reconciliation bill, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, that pertain to Medicaid and preventing Trump and the executive branch from impounding funds that have already been appropriated by Congress.
The White House and Republicans have called such demands unrealistic and have said that a short-term government funding measure is not the proper vehicle for such policy changes.
Despite the urgency surrounding the situation, there is little indication of efforts underway to get a deal. Seiichiro Nakai, press secretary for New Mexico Democratic Senator Ben Ray Lujan, said that no votes on a short-term deal have been scheduled in the Senate.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM, during a press conference, accused Trump of provoking a shutdown.
“The president has told his leadership not to negotiate with Democrats on a funding bill, even if it means a shutdown. From my years on the Appropriations Committee, I know the only way forward is a bipartisan deal,” Heinrich said.
Stansbury also indicated that Democrats on the House side will not waver.
“We’re going to hold the line until they shake our hands and put something on paper,” she said.
Republicans have said it is Democrats who need to step up and back the resolution. Amy Barela, chair of the Republican Party of New Mexico, singled out members of the state’s all-Democratic congressional delegation, accusing them of playing political games.
“The Republican Party of New Mexico calls on Democrats to put the American people first, end their political brinkmanship, and join Republicans in keeping our government open and working for those it serves,” Barela said in a statement.
In a bid to pressure Democrats into providing the needed votes, the Trump administration has indicated that if there is a shutdown, they will use the opportunity to continue slashing the ranks of the federal workforce.
Stansbury, who worked in the Office of Management and Budget, also known as the OMB, during the Obama administration during the 2013 shutdown, said normally, when there is a shutdown, OMB notifies agencies to use their remaining funds to minimize the impact to certain critical programs.
However, Stansbury said that Russell Voght, director of the OMB, has instructed agencies to carry out terminations and not reallocate their funding to protect “mission-critical” functions.
She added that courts have found that the mass firings of federal employees by the executive branch are not legal, and indicated the matter would be brought before a court if they are carried out.