Rep. Louie Gohmert gave a Capitol tour to a group of Texas A&M alumni late Friday night before heading to a GOP Conference meeting where a spending deal was announced.
Each agency had a contingency plan in place, including the House Administration Committee, whose staffers labored feverishly through the week to prepare.
“I worked so hard to get a shutdown plan in place and now ...” joked Chairman Dan Lungren (R-Calif.). “I was never so popular as when I said the Members’ gym would be shut down.”
The plan may be useful yet. A protracted budget battle is sure to come and an actual shutdown is anything but impossible.
Leaving the Capitol, a weary Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid perhaps best summed up the feelings of Members, staffers and employees alike when asked what’s next.
“I’m going to have the weekend off,” the Nevada Democrat said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Thanks to the budget deal, at least until Thursday, so does the rest of the Congressional workforce.
Lois Lerner, director of exempt organizations for the IRS, arrives for a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the investigation of the IRS' targeting of political groups. Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right to not testify and caused a protest from some committee members when she offered an opening statement and engaged in dialogue with members before invoking the right.
Roll Call has launched a new feature, Hill Navigator, to advise congressional staffers and would-be staffers on how to manage workplace issues on Capitol Hill. Please send us your questions — anything from office etiquette, to handling awkward moments, to what happens when the work life gets too personal. Submissions will be treated anonymously.
