Shutdown clock ticks toward April 8 deadline

The clock is ticking, as lawmakers who returned to Washington today have less than two weeks until the April 8 deadline for the continuing resolution that funds the federal government expires. The White House and Congressional Democrats appear ready to agree to additional spending cuts, but still less than Republicans are demanding.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the White House and Democrats will offer another $20 billion in spending cuts, in addition to the $10 billion already agreed to, on the negotiating table. But the two sides will still be about $30 billion apart, as Republicans seek to reduce spending by $60 billion.

Introduced before the recent legislative break was legislation to fund federal agencies’ daily operations, including the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, through Sept. 30, according the Associated Press. The article also states the partial government shutdown that both parties have sworn to avoid is still possible.

Meanwhile, the six short-term stopgap measures that Congress has passed are causing the government to “burn money” as waste and inefficiency grow, reports the Washington Post.

For example, the government is spending $1.4 million daily on a moon rocket that NASA has already canceled, but the budget deadlock is preventing the end of funding, the Post reports.

As the government lives paycheck to paycheck, many agencies have to stop new projects midstream, and employees are anxious about keeping their jobs, according to the Post.