Washington prepares for the shutdown that was never supposed to happen

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/26/ [login to see] /government-shutdown-house-republicans
Congress returns to Washington Tuesday with a government shutdown less than five days away and seemingly no plan to avoid it.

That wasn't supposed to be the case.

It has been less than three months since House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reached an agreement with President Biden that set spending levels for the year. That agreement was part of a bipartisan debt limit package that overwhelmingly passed the House in a 343-117 vote.