Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) arrives for a meeting with House Republicans on Nov. 7, 2023, to discuss the possibility of a budget continuing resolution as the Nov. 17 government shutdown deadline looms. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)
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BY MORGAN CARMEN | The government might shut down this week (again). Congress narrowly avoided a shutdown this September, when it passed a bipartisan continuing resolution—a temporary funding measure to allow for negotiations on a full-year budget bill—that expires on Nov. 17.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, just three weeks into his tenure, proposed a “two-step continuing resolution” this weekend that would provide funding for some federal programs until Jan. 19 and the rest through Feb. 2. The plan has already elicited disapproval from both sides of the aisle, with some Republicans disappointed that the resolution does not include spending cuts and Democrats balking at its “super convoluted” structure.
One of the spending cuts House Republicans proposed in the form of the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, was the total elimination of the Department of Labor Women’s Bureau, an agency created in 1920 to improve women’s working conditions. The Women’s Bureau conducts research on the issues that face women in the workplace and supports programs that fight sexual harassment, provide training for women in male-dominated industries, and promote paid leave and progressive childcare policies.
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