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Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to reporters outside the White House following Tuesday's meeting
By Mike Wendling
BBC News
Top US lawmakers have vowed to avert a partial government shutdown ahead of a Friday deadline to approve funding.
"We will get the government funded," House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after a meeting with President Joe Biden on Tuesday.
Democrats and Republicans have been far apart in the budget negotiations on border security and aid to Ukraine.
Republicans control the House by a slim majority, while Democrats hold the Senate by a single seat.
There have been 10 US government shutdowns or partial shutdowns over the past four decades.
Spending bills to keep the US government open require buy-in from both parties in order to advance through both chambers to the president's desk.
If a deal is not reached, some government departments, including agencies that oversee agriculture, transportation and veterans affairs, will temporarily close by 12:01 on Saturday.
Other federal funding, including defence spending and homeland security and state department budgets, will expire a week later. Past shutdowns have led to furloughs of government workers and the closure of national parks.
President Biden met the top four lawmakers - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries - at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the effort to keep the government open.
"It's Congress' responsibility to fund the government," Mr Biden said at the start of the meeting. "A shutdown would damage the economy significantly, and I think we all agree to that, and we need a bipartisan solution."
Senator McConnell told reporters at the Capitol they had made "some real headway".
Senator Schumer said the meeting at the White House was "passionate". "It's in his hands," he said of Mr Johnson.
The Speaker is expected to put forward legislation in the coming days to keep the government open, though the details were uncertain.
Mr Johnson might offer to push back the deadline to 22 March, which would require another short-term continuing resolution (CR) to give legislators more time.
It was still being discussed as an option and was not finalised, the BBC's US partner CBS News reported.
The Speaker faces fierce objections from right-wing lawmakers in his ranks who want spending cuts and insist any further support for Ukraine should be tied to more money for US border security.
Those same members booted out the previous Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, in October, after they were angered by a short-term budget deal that Mr McCarthy made with Democrats.
A defence spending package including aid for Ukraine and Israel has passed the Senate, but Mr Johnson has so far resisted a vote on it in the House.

• Why shutdowns seem to only happen in US

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Watch: How does a government shutdown impact the US?

Why government shutdowns seem to only happen in US

Watch: How does a government shutdown impact the US?
By Robin Levinson King & Anthony Zurcher
BBC News
The US government has shutdown ten times over the past 40-plus years. Meanwhile, in other countries, governments keep functioning, even in the midst of wars and constitutional crises. So why does this uniquely American phenomenon keep happening?
For most of the world, a government shutdown is very bad news - the result of revolution, invasion or disaster. That leaders of one of the most powerful nations on Earth willingly provoked a crisis that suspends public services and decreases economic growth is surprising to many.
In a last-minute deal in September, Congress managed to avoid a shutdown by passing a stop-gap spending bill that kept the government running for another 45 days. But that means the politicians have to go back to the bargaining table, and the country could be facing another shutdown yet again, once the funding runs out.
So why does this keep happening?
America's federal system of government allows different branches of government to be controlled by different parties. It was a structure devised by the nation's founders to encourage compromise and deliberation, but lately it has had the opposite effect.
That's because in 1980, the Attorney General under President Jimmy Carter's administration issued a narrow interpretation of the 1884 Anti-Deficiency Act. The 19th Century spending law banned the government from entering into contracts without congressional approval; for almost a century, if there was a gap in budgets, the government had allowed necessary spending to continue. But after 1980, the government took a much stricter view: no budget, no spending.
That interpretation has set the US apart from other non-parliamentary democracies, such as Brazil, where a strong executive branch has the ability to keep the lights on during a budget impasse.
The first US shutdown occurred shortly after in 1981, when President Ronald Reagan vetoed a funding bill, and lasted for a few days. Since then, there's been at least ten others that led to a stop in services, lasting anywhere from half-a-day to over a month. The last one, from 21 December 2018 to 25 January 2019, was the longest on record.

• What happens in a US government shutdown?

While some essential services did continue to run, like social security and the military, hundreds of thousands of federal workers were not paid. At the time, the White House estimated that the shutdown reduced GDP growth by 0.1 percentage points for every week the salary stoppage went on.
Elsewhere in the world, such shutdowns are practically impossible. The parliamentary system used by most European democracies ensures that the executive and legislature are controlled by the same party or coalition. Conceivably, a parliament could refuse to pass a budget proposed by the prime minister, but such an action would likely trigger a new election - not a stoppage in services like national parks, tax refunds and food assistance programmes.
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That's exactly what happened in Canada in 2011, when opposition parties rejected the budget proposed by then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative Party, which had a minority of seats in parliament. The House of Commons then passed a motion of no-confidence, triggering an election. Meanwhile, the government's services ticked away.
Even in Belgium, which did not have an elected government in power for 589 days between 2010-2011, the trains kept running.
More recently, Ireland managed to keep everything running from 2016-2020 under a minority government with a confidence-and-supply system, which is when parties not in power agree to support spending bills and confidence votes.
But this type of cooperation has become increasingly rare in the US, where warring political parties seem all-too willing to use the day-to-day functioning of the government as a bargaining chip to extract demands from the other side. The most recent near-shutdown, for example, was the result of a minority of hardline conservative Republican members of Congress demanding deep spending cuts that centrists in their own party and Democrats would not support.
A deal was finally reached on 30 September, but with a huge caveat: no additional funding for the Ukraine war.
With the clock ticking on the 45-day stop-gap funding, it remains to be seen what kind of new deal will be reached - if one can be reached at all.

What is the likelihood of a US government shutdown?

Watch: How does a government shutdown impact the US?
By Tom Geoghegan
BBC News
The US has narrowly avoided its 22nd government shutdown in 50 years, after Republicans in Congress sided with Democrats to pass a last-minute temporary spending plan.
The move resets the clock on the Congress deadline to pass a new budget to keep funding the federal government, granting lawmakers another 45 days to strike a long-term deal.
If they do not manage to come up with one, several key government departments will cease operating in little over a month.

What is a shutdown?

Many federal government agencies rely on annual funding approved by Congress.
Every year, these agencies submit their requests, which Congress must pass, and the president must sign budget legislation for the next fiscal year.
If agreement is not reached by the start of the fiscal year on 1 October, then there is a shutdown, where all non-essential discretionary functions stop.
Usually when the deadline looms, lawmakers from both parties agree on temporary funding based on the previous year's requests.
This is called a continuing resolution (CR) and is a stop-gap way to keep agencies open until Congress can agree.
This is what House Speaker Kevin McCarthy finally proposed on Saturday, guaranteeing funding for federal agencies until 17 November.

Why is it happening?

Any House budget must pass in the Democrat-controlled Senate - the upper chamber - and then be signed off by President Joe Biden.
But there is deep disagreement about spending among the Republicans in the lower chamber of Congress, which they control.
A right-wing faction in the House is demanding deep cuts and wants to stop further funding of the war in Ukraine.
They had voted down attempts by the party leadership, headed by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, to bring a deal to the floor of the House.
The right-wing factions had vowed to topple Mr McCarthy as leader if moderates passed any solution with Democratic support.
At his Saturday news conference, Mr McCarthy challenged those who oppose him to "bring it", adding: "There has to be an adult in the room."
Saturday's CR passed on a bipartisan basis - but 90 members of Mr McCarthy's party voted against it.
The bill notably excluded any funding for Ukraine, spending cuts or border policy changes - raising the likelihood of a fresh fight over the issues in the coming weeks.
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How does it affect daily life?

If no deal is struck by 17 November, then the US will have its first shutdown since early 2019.
More than 1.3 million active-duty members of the military and thousands of air traffic controllers will be among those working without pay.
In recent shutdowns, the military were still getting paid because the defence department had a separate funding deal but that has not happened this time.
Government employees deemed non-essential are put temporarily on unpaid leave - called a furlough.
This will impact the food assistance programme, federally funded preschool, the issuing of student loans and food inspections, and National Parks will close.
It will also affect tax refunds and related administrative activities, such as income and social security numbers - delays here could prevent people from getting other services, such as a mortgage.
In 2013 there were some surprising consequences, such as American cemeteries closing in Europe and the US-Canada border only being patrolled by one person.

• 10 unexpected consequences of 2013 US shutdown
• Eighteen ways 2019 US shutdown hurt

How common are shutdowns in US?

Quite common. President Ronald Reagan oversaw eight shutdowns during his tenure - though all were relatively brief.
And there were three when Donald Trump was president, including the longest in history at 36 days which ended in January 2019.
That one happened because of disagreements over funding a wall on the Mexico border.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that it reduced economic output by about $11bn, including $3bn that it never regained.
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Shutdowns over budgets are almost unique to US politics.
Under the US system, the different branches of government have to reach an agreement on spending plans before they can become law.
In most countries, budget votes become votes of confidence in the government itself. But because the US has equal and often divided branches of government, that isn't the case.

What activities are unaffected?

Services classed as essential - mostly related to public safety - continue to operate, and those workers are required to show up without pay.
That usually includes border protection, hospital care, air traffic control, law enforcement, and power grid maintenance.
Other critical functions that do not get their funds from the treasury on an annual basis - social security, Medicare, and Medicaid - are not interrupted.

What about the White House?

The president of the United States has a guaranteed income.
Congress is also not affected - its members are exempt and, in any case, its funding bill has already been approved.
The US Department of Justice is among those affected - with many lawyers and judges not working during a shutdown. Others are working without pay.
Criminal investigations tend to continue, but almost all federal civil cases, and immigration court cases are affected.

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• US government shutdown
• Donald Trump
• US Congress

US House reconvenes with Ukraine aid at stake and shutdown looming

Congressional leaders work to keep government funded and pass $60bn aid package for Ukraine as far-Republicans refuse to budge

Joan E Greve and Lauren Gambino in Washington
Wed 28 Feb 2024 12.00 GMT
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With a government shutdown looming and Ukraine desperate for Washington’s aid, the House returns to session on Wednesday to face a towering to-do list and strong objections from the Republican right flank.
Congressional leaders worked frantically to reach a deal ahead of the 1 March deadline to avert a partial government shutdown that could shutter vital services in several key departments, temporarily endangering access to federal food assistance programs and federal housing vouchers.

Putin ‘gains every day’ Congress fails to send Ukraine aid, top Biden official says

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On Tuesday, Joe Biden summoned to the White House the top four congressional leaders – the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson; the Democratic Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer; the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell; and the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries – to discuss a funding deal and the president’s push for a wartime aid package that would allocate $60bn to Ukraine’s fight against Russia. It would also provide $14.1bn in security assistance for Israel and $9.2bn in humanitarian assistance for civilians in war zones.
Leaders of both parties expressed optimism that they would be able to avoid a government shutdown this week, although Democrats suggested another short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), would be necessary to continue their work.
“The speaker said unequivocally he wants to avoid a government shutdown,” Schumer told reporters after the meeting. “We made it clear that that means not letting any of the government appropriations bills lapse, which means you need some CRs to get that done. But we’re making good progress, and we’re hopeful we can get this done really quickly.”
On the question of providing more aid to Ukraine, Schumer described the discussion as “one of the most intense I’ve ever encountered in my many meetings in the Oval Office”. Hard-right Republicans have insisted they will not take action on Ukraine without linking the aid to stricter border policies, and Johnson reiterated that position on Tuesday.
“The first priority of the country is our border and making sure it’s secure. I believe the president can take executive authority right now, today, to change that. And I told him that again today in person,” Johnson told reporters. “It’s time for action. It is a catastrophe, and it must stop, and we will get the government funded, and we’ll keep working on that.”
The current standoff comes after hard-right Republicans, at the encouragement of Donald Trump, blocked a bipartisan border and national security package that would have addressed Ukraine and overhauled the asylum system for migrants. After killing that deal, Republicans have once again demanded stricter border measures in exchange for approving more foreign aid.
The border security demands have infuriated lawmakers who worked for months to broker a bipartisan immigration plan only to see it torpedoed by Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. Schumer warned Johnson that there was not a moment to waste on Ukraine, urging him to prioritize the nation’s security over his political party.
“We said to the speaker: get it done,” Schumer said on Tuesday. “And if you don’t do the right thing, whatever the immediate politics are, you will regret it.”
The House’s return on Wednesday follows a two-week recess that Biden denounced as “bizarre” given the urgency of approving the $95bn national security package. That bill passed the Senate in a bipartisan vote of 70 to 29, with 22 Republicans supporting the proposal, but Johnson has been reluctant to bring it to the floor for a vote. At a recent security conference in Munich, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, referenced the delay in passing the bill, warning “dictators don’t go on vacation”.
Republicans’ topsy-turvy take on aid for Ukraine reveals party in thrall to Trump

Read more
“This is one of those instances where one person can bend the course of history,” the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “Speaker Johnson, if he put this bill on the floor, would produce a strong, bipartisan majority vote in favor of the aid to Ukraine.”
While the House was away, Russia captured the strategically important eastern frontline city of Avdiivka, a significant battlefield victory that arrived just days before Ukraine marked the second anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion. Meanwhile, the death of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison sent shockwaves across western capitals earlier this month, with Biden and other world leaders laying the blame squarely on Russia’s autocratic leader, Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskiy, has been pleading with the US to replenish its weapons stock, with the country outnumbered and outgunned as the war enters a third year. In an interview with NBC this week, Zelenskiy said without American assistance “we will lose a lot of people. We will lose territories.”
Returning from a congressional visit to Ukraine last week, Schumer implored Johnson to override the objections of Trump’s far-right allies on Capitol Hill and allow a vote on the bill.
In a letter to colleagues, Schumer said Zelenskiy told him that without additional defense assistance, “Putin will win.”
“We were told in no uncertain terms that if more weaponry had been available in Avdiivka, the outcome would have been different,” he added, appealing to “pragmatic Republicans” for help prodding Johnson “to meet the moment”.
“I know our caucus recognizes that if we abandon Ukraine, the political, diplomatic, economic and military consequences will reverberate for years, not only for Ukraine and Europe, but for the American people,” he said. “The death of Russia’s brave opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, shows the danger and menace of Putin’s autocracy.”
In a statement, Johnson dismissed Schumer’s letter and said now was “not a time for petty politics”.
“House Republicans will continue to work in good faith and hope to reach an outcome as soon as possible,” he said, “even as we continue to insist that our own border security must be addressed immediately.”
Congressional leaders are simultaneously searching for a deal that would keep the federal government operating through the end of the fiscal year. But conservative policy demands on issues ranging from immigration to abortion have stalled talks.
Without a deal, appropriators may be forced to consider another temporary extension to avert a shutdown that could rattle the still-recovering economy. As of now, funding for roughly one-fifth of the federal government is set to expire on Friday. The rest of federal funding, which includes money for the Department of Homeland Security, the Pentagon and the state department, will run out a week later on 8 March.

“We are making real progress on the appropriations bills that are scheduled to lapse on 1 March, and I’m cautiously optimistic that we can do what is necessary within the next day or so to close down these bills and avoid a government shutdown,” Jeffries told reporters after the meeting at the White House on Tuesday.
“At the same time, it may be important to come to an agreement that’s bipartisan and anchored in common sense to extend the pending expiration of the eight additional bills that are scheduled to lapse on 8 March, so that good-faith, tough negotiations can continue in the absence of a government shutdown.”