It looks like Democrats want to bring back the fun of April’s near government shutdown, as House Democrats rejected the Republicans’ stopgap measure to keep the government funded through Sept. 30 as a protest to disaster-relief cuts. More than 40 Republicans rebelled and voted against the bill to demand steeper cuts to federal programs. The bill’s failure gives Boehner two options: he can either drastically cut discretionary spending to stop his own party’s rebellion or acquiesce to the Democrats’ demand to allocate more disaster funds. Both the House and the Senate must approve a stopgap funding measure by Sept. 30 or the government will shut down.
