U.S. government shutdown looms

If you haven’t noticed, it’s because nobody cares. Considerably more important issues going on than whether or not Congressment will spend this time deliberating what to name Post Office locations that may or may not be around next year.

Read here, if you even care to.

The standoff continues Monday between the House and the Senate over emergency funding, which is holding up a short-term spending measure to keep government running into the new fiscal year that begins this weekend.

The measure includes additional money to fill the almost depleted emergency aid coffers of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Army Corps of Engineers following Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, wildfires and tornadoes so far this year.

House Republicans have passed a bill that cuts spending elsewhere to offset some of the increased disaster relief aid. Democrats oppose offsets for emergency aid, saying disaster relief for Americans in need should be unencumbered. The Democratic-led Senate rejected the House measure on Friday by a 59-36 vote.

The package would fund the government for the first seven weeks of the new fiscal year that starts Saturday.

For the third time in six months, a partial government shutdown is possible if the Republican-led House and Democratic-controlled Senate fail to agree on the short-term spending plan by Friday — the end of the current fiscal year.

The measure currently under deliberation — which would keep Washington running through Nov. 18 — includes critical new disaster funding assistance for states hit hard by Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, and a series of recent wildfires and tornadoes.

But Republicans want less disaster aid than their Democratic counterparts, and want to pay for it partly by cutting funding for programs designed to spur clean energy innovation.

The House passed a “common sense measure,” House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters during the Senate vote. “It’s time for the Senate to move.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, announced his intention to push for a new vote Monday on a compromise package incorporating the GOP’s lower overall disaster relief spending levels while eliminating any cuts to clean energy programs.

Congressmen and senators need to “cool off for a little bit,” Reid said Friday. “There’s a compromise here.”

“More reasonable heads will prevail,” he predicted.

Meanwhile, the agency responsible for doling out disaster relief money — FEMA — could run out of funds as soon as Monday, according to Reid.