The Blubber

Gary Gensler says 90% of the SEC staff would be furloughed in a government shutdown.

Republican U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy dismissed a temporary funding bill making headway in the Senate on Wednesday, bringing Washington perilously close to its fourth partial shutdown of the U.S. government in a decade, with a mere four days left.

Such a shutdown would result in the furlough of hundreds of thousands of federal workers and the suspension of various government services, spanning from economic data releases to nutrition benefits, until Congress can pass a funding bill acceptable to President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

The Senate proposal, which garnered broad bipartisan support on Tuesday, proposes funding the government until Nov. 17, providing lawmakers with additional time to agree on funding levels for the complete fiscal year starting Oct. 1.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stated that the Senate would conduct the next procedural vote on Thursday unless an agreement is reached among senators for an earlier vote.

McCarthy's House of Representatives is concentrating its efforts on reaching consensus on more of the 12 distinct full-year funding bills, with only one having been passed thus far.

"I don't see the support in the House" for the Senate plan, remarked McCarthy, despite the bill gaining support from Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The House was anticipated to engage in late-night voting on amendments to specific funding bills. However, even if all four of those bills were to be signed into law by Saturday, they would not be sufficient on their own to avert a partial government shutdown