The U.S. government is hours away from a possible shutdown, and millions of federal workers, including those in Michigan, could go into the holidays without pay.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib hopes lawmakers will reach an agreement and avoid letting outside pressures derail the negotiations. She said that lawmakers have been working hard to create a temporary government funding plan, but President-elect Donald Trump disrupted the last potential deal earlier this week.
Tlaib warned that if an agreement isn’t reached by Friday night, it won’t just affect government employees. “In my district, for example, more than 27,000 people—about 6,000 of them infants and around 16,000 children—won’t have access to SNAP benefits and WIC,” she said.
Republican strategist Jason Roe believes both sides need to compromise to avoid a shutdown. “It’s the responsibility of both parties to get this done,” Roe said. “If you want to argue over party issues, do it in a normal way, not during a crisis.”
Friday is expected to be a busy day as both Republicans and Democrats work to prevent the first federal government shutdown since 2019.