If Congress passes a Continuing Resolution before the deadline, it will be a barebones package with minor sweeteners to win over moderate Senate Democrats and conservative House Republicans. Neither a wildfire funding fix nor additional disaster relief is expected to be attached to the next stopgap spending measure.
The timing of a government shutdown could not be worse for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an agency already struggling to deliver aid for victims of last year’s hurricane and wildfire seasons. FEMA would be forced to furlough 3,000 employees immediately following a shutdown. By the end of the 16 day government shutdown in 2013, FEMA furloughed almost 90 percent of its full time staff. If the government shuts down, FEMA will struggle to address the millions of individual aid applications that were submitted in 2017. FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate expressed concern to The Washington Post that a shutdown would further strain an agency that has already reached its breaking point.