White House says there's 'still time' to avert shutdown
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked if Americans should be prepared for the government to shut down.
"I think there's still time. We believe there's still time for that to not happen, for Republicans to do the right thing, to hold up their part of the deal and move forward with the bipartisan agreement," she said. "There's still time and our focus is keeping the government open. That's what we want to see. And we hope Republicans want to do that."
Asked if President Joe Biden would remain in Washington should a shutdown occur, Jean-Pierre rejected getting into hypotheticals.
"We believe, as I just said moments ago, there's still time to get to a bypass, to get to a deal here or move forward," she said.
Jean-Pierre noted, though, that agencies began notifying employees at noon on Friday of their potential furlough in preparation for a possible shutdown.