As Congress faces a Friday deadline for passing a stopgap funding bill to prevent a partial government shutdown, all eyes are on Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s permitting proposal that’s linked to that funding measure. Without at least 60 senators on board with Manchin’s plan that aims to speed up permitting for energy projects, the stopgap funding bill to which it is attached will not pass — and a government shutdown is then possible, as the fiscal year ends Friday.
Analysts at Beacon Policy Advisors expect the push to include Manchin’s permitting proposal to fail, writing in a note on Monday that “the votes aren’t there for a [continuing resolution] with Manchin’s legislation.” Lawmakers from both parties have balked at Manchin’s plan, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden agreed to include in the stopgap funding bill. Their agreement came during negotiations to secure Manchin’s support for Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act. Beacon’s analysts predict that Schumer “will tell Manchin that he tried” after a procedural vote on the amendment fails and then switch his vote in order “to preserve the option to bring up another substitute amendment with …