Shutdown Watch: Government funding expires today

Although funding for the federal government expires tonight at midnight, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that differences on spending cuts continue to prevent lawmakers from reaching a deal on a fiscal 2011 budget, The Hill reports.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he will introduce another week-long funding extension April 8, The Hill reports.

Jeff Zients, the Office of Management and Budget's deputy director for management, said in an interview April 7 with The Washington Post that he’s especially concerned about federal workers and the “uncertainty that they’re dealing with, the possibility that they will be furloughed.”

In the event of a shutdown, furloughed feds will get up to four hours on their next scheduled workday to go to their offices, turn in equipment and prepare for an “orderly” closing, Federal Times reports.