With funding deal still out of reach, it’s time to prepare for a potential partial shutdown

CNN —

Congress is quickly approaching the first of two deadlines to fund the government and avert a shutdown. And as negotiators and staff continue to hash out a funding plan, it’s become clear to lawmakers that a short-term solution is needed to buy more time for the complex legislative appropriations process.

In the absence of a broader funding package or a short-term stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution, a set of departments are set to run out of money next Friday, January 19.

A two-step plan passed last November extends funding until January 19 for parts of the federal government including military construction, and the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and Energy. The rest of the government – anything not covered by the first step – is funded until February 2.

While Biden administration officials have expressed some confidence that Congress can ultimately reach an agreement to keep the government funded, some House Republicans are threatening a shutdown over border policy disagreements.

In the meantime, the behind-the-scenes work of preparing for a partial shutdown still has to happen. The federal government will soon participate in the mandatory but standard process of releasing shutdown guidance to agencies ahead of the partial deadline.

The standard procedure laying out the steps toward bringing non-essential government functions to a halt will get underway later this week for the entire federal government – not just those impacted by the January 19 deadline, an administration official told CNN.

“One week prior to the expiration of appropriations bills, regardless of whether the enactment of appropriations appears imminent, OMB will