[Benjamin]

• Congress needs to pass a spending measure to keep the government open after Sept. 30.
• At the same time it’s facing a deadline to raise the nation’s debt limit.

GOP leaders don’t have a plan yet for how they’ll proceed.
The U.S. would begin missing payments in early to mid-October.

Trump has made clear for months he wasn’t happy with the last bipartisan spending deal in May because it didn’t fund a new wall on the southern border, his signature campaign promise. At the time, he tweeted that a “good” government shutdown may be needed to force Democrats to make concessions.

Congress will likely need a short-term stopgap bill since it needs more time to complete appropriations this fall.
Quelle: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...rs-in-congress
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Conservatives in the Republican Study Committee and House Freedom Caucus are pushing for deep cuts to entitlement tied to the debt ceiling which moderates in the party are not prepared to vote in favor of. That means Republicans will likely need to assemble a bipartisan vote that includes Democrats, who have rejected the idea of attaching any conditions to a debt bill. This may leave GOP leaders deciding that the best way to build support for the debt increase is to pare it with the must-pass stopgap spending bill.

Quelle: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-ceiling-plans
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• The government has enough money to pay its bills until Sept. 29. After that, Congress would have to give permission for the government to borrow more money to meet its obligations. (...) The federal government has never before defaulted on debt payments.
• The government's fiscal year ends Sept. 30 and legislation is needed to prevent a partial shutdown of federal agencies.

Earlier this week, McConnell appeared in Kentucky with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, saying: "There is zero chance, no chance, we won't raise the debt ceiling."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireS...iling-49396963
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AUG. 22, 2017, By ALEXANDER BURNS and JONATHAN MARTIN

McConnell, in Private, Doubts if Trump Can Save Presidency

In offhand remarks, Mr. McConnell has expressed a sense of bewilderment about where Mr. Trump’s presidency may be headed, and has mused about whether Mr. Trump will be in a position to lead the Republican Party into next year’s elections and beyond, according to people who have spoken to him directly.

The fury among Senate Republicans toward Mr. Trump has been building since last month, even before he lashed out at Mr. McConnell. Some of them blame the president for not being able to rally the party around any version of legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, accusing him of not knowing even the basics about the policy. Senate Republicans also say strong-arm tactics from the White House backfired, making it harder to cobble together votes and have left bad feelings in the caucus.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/u...ell-trump.html