Risk of a Partial Government Shutdown

After the tragic killing of a second protester in Minnesota, Congress may be heading towards a partial federal government shutdown, as Senate Democrats threaten to withhold their votes for any spending package that includes funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Congress and the White House have until January 30 to either extend the current Continuing Resolution (CR) or enact full-year spending bills, or it risks a partial government shutdown.

As of now, Senate Republicans are still planning to hold a vote this week on a legislative package with six spending bills, including one for DHS. Democrats, on the other hand, have called for the Senate to move forward with enacting the five spending bills where there is widespread agreement, so that only funding for DHS would be held up if they cannot reach an agreement.

The remaining six spending bills amount to about 75% of all discretionary federal funding, so the impact of a partial government shutdown would be directly felt by nonprofits. The six funding bills include: Labor-HHS-Education, Transportation-HUD, Financial Services, Foreign-State, Defense, and Homeland Security.

Senate Republicans need to garner support from seven of their Democratic colleagues to overcome the filibuster and enact the spending package. Several Senators, however, who previously voted to end the government shutdown in the fall, including Maine's Senator King, have said they'll oppose DHS funding unless policy changes are made. Other moderate Senate Democrats voiced concerns about DHS but did not explicitly commit to withholding their votes.

If the Senate agrees to make changes to the DHS spending bill, the House of Representatives would have to take up and vote to approve the bill again. Because the House is currently out of session this week, congressional leaders would have to call them back to D.C. - an action made more difficult by the massive snowstorm.

National Council of Nonprofits and MANP are closely monitoring these developments. In the meantime, these resources are available:

• How nonprofits can prepare for a shutdown 
• How shutdowns disrupt nonprofits' ability to serve communities

If the government shuts down, MANP and NCN will encourage nonprofits and advocates to Share Your Story and Contact Your Members of Congress to urge them to find a bipartisan solution to reopen the government.