As Congress embarks on a two-week recess, the urgency to fund the government looms with high stakes. Lawmakers are slated to return to Capitol Hill on February 28, close to the March 1 deadline for funding certain government agencies, with a subsequent deadline of March 8 for others.

This scenario echoes past challenges where government funding efforts have gone down to the wire. Congress is stuck in a deadlock with no new funding plans passed since November, highlighting the struggle to decide how the government should spend money affecting everything from national security to public services.

Speaker Mike Johnson's commitment against another short-term funding measure mirrors previous fiscal crises where political deadlock threatened government operations. Johnson is refusing to consider the Senate-approved funding bill for Ukraine and Israel, demanded by Republicans to be paired with stringent border policy reforms, adding another layer of gridlock.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices