White House telling government agencies to get ready for a shutdown

Rand Paul.
(Image credit: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

Federal agencies have been told by the White House to brace for a shutdown, an Office of Management and Budget official told CNBC Thursday evening.

The official said President Trump backs the bipartisan budget deal now in play and wants it to pass. The bill includes a $300 million increase for military spending and domestic programs, plus almost $90 billion for disaster relief efforts. Congress is expected to vote on the bill Thursday, but it's being held up by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). All senators need to agree to hold a vote, but on the Senate floor Thursday evening, Paul said he "can't in all good honesty, in all good faith, just look the other way because my party is now complicit in the deficits." He also said he wants to hold a vote on an amendment to maintain budget caps.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.