WASHINGTON — The nation is eight days away from another possible government shutdown.
As things stand now, federal funding for agriculture, energy and water, military construction and veterans affairs, transportation, and housing programs will expire on January 19, 2024.
With the clock ticking and prospects for a long-term solution fading, it seems the best hope now may be for another temporary continuing resolution (CR).
Talk on Capitol Hill now seems to be centered upon a CR that would last until March.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) said he could live with that.
"I was glad to see the Speaker reach a bipartisan agreement. It was House Democrats and House Republicans, the leaders, and Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats. That's the way the system is supposed to work. If it's going to take us a few extra weeks, so be it," he said. "But this not the way to operate the government of the greatest country in the world."
Despite it all, Virginia's other Senator, Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) was upbeat.
"We need to move with dispatch to get this done. I am confident that we will. These numbers are the numbers that we agreed to in May. And the fact that the Speaker and Leader Schumer announced over the weekend we're going to honor that deal and move forward should enable us to get this done promptly," he said.
Whatever happens, this will not be the end of the drama.
January 19 is actually the first of two key budget deadlines on the horizon. The next one is February 2.