Gridlock: Congress Struggles to Pass Government Funding Bill

Sept. 28, 2010 -- How gridlocked has Congress become? With only days left before lawmakers leave Capitol Hill to focus on keeping their jobs in Congress, they have yet to complete their most basic job responsibility: funding the government.

Not a single appropriations bill has passed Congress this year, leaving the government at risk of shutting down later this week. It won't happen, but it's another telling sign of the bipartisan stalemate in the nation's capital.

Democrats, of course, blame Republicans for obstructing their plans and blindly blocking every proposal. Republicans, in turn, blame Democrats for ignoring their suggestions and stubbornly trying to jam every proposal down their throats.

Since lawmakers now are determined to get out of town for some last-ditch campaigning, the only solution to keep the government running once the fiscal year ends on Thursday is to pass a stop-gap funding bill. On Tuesday, the Senate voted to proceed to debate on the bill, which would keep the government funded at 2010 levels through early December.

Democrats appear to have blown off a White House wish list for possible additions to the funding bill, while Republicans do not sound ready to block the bill, so it seems likely to pass the Senate sometime Wednesday, paving the way for Congress to adjourn until after the November election.

"This is not the first time that Congress has resorted to stop-gap measures to keep the government running," Sarah Binder, an expert on Congress at the Brookings Institution in Washington, told ABC News. "But the situation seems particularly dire this year, as Congress failed to pass a budget and not a single appropriations bill was debated on the Senate floor.

"Democrats have been reluctant to make tough spending choices amidst a recession," Binder said, "while Republicans have often been unwilling to play a constructive legislative role. Such partisan and ideological polarization has been a recipe for stalemate for Congress's ability to complete its most basic job."