Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday that there is a chance that the government could shutter at the end of this month, The Hill reported.

 

Criticizing House Republicans for the disaster relief provisions in their budget bill, Reid told reporters, “We’re not going to cave on this.”

 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday confidently predicted that the two sides will come together by Thursday night: “There will not be a government shutdown,” McConnell said.

 

At issue is increased funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help a number of states recover from various natural disasters. The government funding bill, known as a continuing resolution, that the House will take up today contains $3.65 billion for FEMA, but the Senate has previously approved stand-alone legislation that would provide $6.9 billion in relief funds. Reid announced Tuesday he would be amending the House bill to include the increased funding.

 

Tuesday saw both parties accusing the other of playing games with legislation to keep the government funded through Sept. 30. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) accused Reid earlier in the day of playing a “political game,” asserting that the Senate Democrat would be solely to blame if a shutdown occurred.

 

Reid said the deadline for getting a deal on a short-term continuing resolution is Sept 30, the end of the fiscal year. He also indicated that Congress could cancel its scheduled recess for the last week of September if a spending deal is not reached.

 

“If they want to stay into next week, that’s fine; we can do that,” he said. “We can work all next week.”