Shutdown Risk Is High as Congress Returns: BGOV Budget

Vought Riles Up Congress Ahead of Funding Talks

Congress has 16 working days left to avoid an Oct. 1 shutdown, and the chances of a bipartisan deal keep getting slimmer.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought’s plan to block $4.9 billion in foreign aid — using a year-end tactic called “pocket rescissions” — heightened tensions between the White House and Capitol Hill and may have increased the already-significant threat of a shutdown.

Vought is blocking the money himself, rather than asking Congress to block it. He sent Congress a request to rescind the money shortly before ...