Scoop: Congressional trips canceled ahead of potential shutdown
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Several official congressional trips that were scheduled for next week have been canceled due to the possibility of a government shutdown, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: It's one of the starkest indicators yet that lawmakers on Capitol Hill are hunkering down for a shutdown as Republican and Democratic leadership appear far from a deal.
- Federal funding is set to run out at midnight on Sept. 30 unless Senate Democrats agree to a deal with Republicans to pass a short-term spending measure.
- Senior Democratic and Republican sources stressed that these trips are government-funded — making it a financial and logistical nightmare to try to go forward with them during a shutdown.
What we're hearing: At least two congressional delegations — called CODELs — organized through the House Oversight and Science, Space, and Technology Committees have been canceled, according to lawmakers and staff familiar with the matter.
- Science, Space and Technology Committee members were set to travel to New Mexico to visit the Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, two sources told Axios.
Zoom in: Lawmakers were informed in both cases that the trips were canceled due to the likelihood of a shutdown, according to five sources.
- One of the sources, a lawmaker who was set to go on the Oversight trip, said they were informed by a staffer who arranges travel for members that a third trip was also canceled.
- Said the lawmaker: "[The] decision was made by members because we have to lock in planes and hotels that aren't refundable."
Yes, but: A Republican leadership source stressed that none of the trips were canceled by leadership and that all the decisions are being made by individual members.
- The source also stressed that while some CODELs have been canceled, not all have been.
- A House Republican who is scheduled to go on a CODEL next week said they have received "no word" of whether it is still going ahead.
The bottom line: If the government shuts down Wednesday, the trips are canceled whether members like it or not.
- "CODELs cannot happen without a legislative appropriation," a senior House Democrat told Axios.
