Good news, I guess. The Senate has approved a bill to fund the federal government for a whole five days which will, presumably, give them enough time to resolve differences that we haven't been able to resolve for years.
The Senate passed by voice vote a five-day continuing resolution Thursday that extends government funding past Friday’s deadline to Dec. 16.
The chamber used an amended bill the House had passed earlier this spring, the fiscal 2016 Legislative Branch Appropriations measure. The maneuver enables the Senate to lob the funding fight over the House and gives rank-and-file senators the ability to head home for the weekend, as negotiators hammer out a final deal on the omnibus.
I jest but the government would have shut down tomorrow night if they did not pass yet another continuing resolution; the same resolution they passed last Spring.
That's how pathetic we are. We're using a continuing resolution from eight months ago.
In previous times the idea that we're 24 hours away from a government shutdown would be quite a headline, but in today's Republican-controlled Congress it's standard operating procedure. It's the new normal. They don't do anything until they absolutely must.
I will be exceedingly surprised if Congress does not pass another temporary extension next week. I'd say I have good reason to be skeptical given that the government has been funded by temporary resolutions for most of the year.