No shutdown threat as Congress eyes budget

WASHINGTON Lawmakers are returning to their day jobs after a month on the campaign trail, and they will try to accomplish one of Congress’ key tasks: funding the government. But theywon’t stay long. House members are set to work eight days this month, and Senate members about a dozen. After that, lawmakers will resume the season’s primary activity of campaigning to get re-elected.

The one must-do item on Congress’ work order is passage of a bill to keep the government running past Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. The House is expected to approve the bill later this week, with the Senate to follow before the end-of-month deadline.

A bill like this once drew the ire of Republicans, whose newly emboldened tea party majority in the House threatened a government shutdown over its passage 20 months ago. At that time, they pushed the shutdown threat to the midnight hour as they fought for deep spending cuts across domestic programs.

But cooler political heads seem to be prevailing now, with just weeks to go before the fall election. Gone is the shutdown threat, as lawmakers seem poised to approve the government funding and move along.

Not all rank-and-file Republicans are satisfied with today’s spending levels. They want deeper cuts and are not likely to go along with the votes. But it has been a testament to House Speaker John Boehner’s ability to wrangle his often unruly majority that the shutdownthreat has been shelved.