© Greg Nash
House Democratic leaders have scrapped their scheduled trip to the Eastern Shore this week, citing the ongoing fight –– and lingering uncertainty –– over efforts to fund the government and prevent a government shutdown.
“Given the pressing issues Congress will likely vote on over the next three days, House Democrats will hold their United for A Better Tomorrow Issues Conference at the U.S. Capitol,” said Lauren French, spokeswoman for the Democratic Caucus.
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Democrats were poised to leave Wednesday morning for Cambridge, Md., roughly 90 miles east of Washington, for their issues retreat –– an annual three-day conference designed to unify the Caucus on strategy and messaging heading into the new year. House Republicans had staged a similar event last week at the Greenbriar resort in West Virginia.
It wasn’t to be.
Congress is facing a Thursday deadline to enact a spending bill to keep the government running. And while the House approved such a bill Tuesday night –– passing the fifth continuing resolution of the fiscal year –– there’s a growing expectation that Senate leaders, who claim to be approaching a deal to lift longer-term spending caps, will alter the House bill, requiring yet another vote in the lower chamber.
If Congress fails to act by the end of the day Thursday, large parts of the government will shut down Friday.
As recently as 5:57 p.m. Tuesday, the Democrats were still planning to head to Cambridge after Wednesday morning’s votes. Former Vice President Biden was slated to speak to the group Wednesday afternoon.
There was a growing sense, however, that they’d have to cut the conference short and return to the Capitol Thursday in response to the Senate’s CR strategy.
Instead, they’ve moved the whole event to the same building where they’ll be voting.