"And all at once, summer collapsed into fall…" – Oscar Wilde Congress certainly collapsed into fall this year. It lacked the usual mayhem of an imminent government shutdown for the first time in years. The government is usually only funded through September 30, the end of the federal fiscal year.
Lawmakers solved that fiscal riddle early. So the beginning of fall in Congress is usually anything but enjoyable. Others are devouring cobbler, enjoying spiced pumpkin lattes and viewing leaves of amber.
When a government shutdown looms, the infernality of summer continues to stew on Capitol Hill. Imagine simmering political temperatures mixed with boiling urban concrete and a soupçon of petrichor. That epitomizes the customary fall tension in the halls of Congress when lawmakers are on the precipice of a shutdown.
TRUMP SIGNS GOVERNMENT FUNDING BILL, AVOIDING A SHUTDOWN AHEAD OF MIDTERMS No shutdown. That’s a good thing, considering last year’s 43-day shutdown odyssey which crawled from October 1 into mid November. Everything is funded through December 11.
So at least members and journalists can enjoy some of those autumnal fall trappings and dash to the pumpkin patch. That’s because we don’t know what’s going to await everyone for the next spending round in mid-December. Lawmakers are recovering from the battle scars of last fall.
So with the midterms approaching, no one wanted to return to the 2025 contretemps. The sides are willing to tussle over spending. But only after the midterms.
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