Federal Agencies Warn Of Partial Government Shutdown

Some federal agencies are already warning their staffs that a partial government shutdown could grip the region starting Friday evening. With the holiday around the corner lawmakers are itching to get out of town, but the two parties remain gridlocked over the end game and federal workers in the region are caught in the middle.

Included in the House Republican spending bill is language prohibiting low income District residents from receiving abortions through Medicaid. Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen says the GOP shouldn’t threaten a government shutdown over a policy dispute.

"I would hope that they would not tie up that process by inserting these hot button social issues, these so-called riders," says Van Hollen. "Let’s debate those on their own merits but let’s not threaten to shut down the government because they’re not able to get a particular hot button social issue into the appropriations bill."

For those of you who feel like we’ve told this story before, that’s because we have. This is the fourth time this year the government has faced a potential shutdown.

But this time the gridlock would only result in a partial shutdown because Congress already passed long-term spending bills for approximately ten government agencies.