The US has until Friday to avoid paralysis

US elected officials held behind-the-scenes talks on Monday to reach a tentative agreement to avoid a popular “shutdown” — a federal government shutdown — ahead of midterm elections in November.

A lack of budget has threatened to suspend federal services at midnight on Friday. Lawmakers are debating a measure that would extend the funding until mid-December and is expected to add more than $12 billion in economic and military aid to Ukraine. It should include an envelope for Afghan refugees, an envelope for winter heating payments for low-income families, and aid for the city of Jackson, Mississippi, which was devastated by flooding.

But an energy bill that Democrats have promised to include in the resolution is causing bipartisan frenzy and stalling debate. The text would speed up the permitting process for energy infrastructure — fossil fuel projects and clean energy initiatives proposed by President Joe Biden.

But Republicans don’t want to hand Democrats another legislative victory in the 40 days that will determine who controls Congress for the president’s first term. Democrats also oppose the speech, defended by centrist Senator Joe Manchin, who has ruled it dangerous to the environment.

Analysts estimate that the probability of a “shutdown” will be less close to the election. If the energy measure fails a vote in the Senate on Tuesday, it could simply be abandoned and a key vote on federal funding would proceed.

There has never been a “shutdown” under Joe Biden. His predecessor, Donald Trump, lived through two, including 35 days, from late 2018 to early 2019, the longest in US history. Such a shutdown would wreak havoc by forcing hundreds of thousands of federal employees into layoffs. It also deprives some social programs of funding.