We begin with a stark warning tonight from the White House that a looming government shutdown appears likely and will threaten crucial federal programs.

The Biden administration is blaming far right members of the House GOP for derailing efforts to get a spending plan passed by the September 30th deadline.

After Republican leadership scrapped a vote for a stopgap funding bill that would have kept the government operating through October.

At the heart of the stalemate is intraparty feuding between moderate and ultraconservative members of the party who are insisting on strict spending limits if lawmakers aren't able to strike a deal.

The White House says.

Active duty military and law enforcement will be forced to work without pay.

FEMA's disaster relief fund that could be depleted.

And thousands of families could lose their social services.

Congress has just ten days to pass 12 spending bills, and by all accounts, the odds aren't great.

Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman is on the ground floor of all the negotiations as New Jersey's lone member of the House Appropriations Committee.

And she joins me now.

Congresswoman, thank you for joining me in what is inevitably a busy week.

How likely are we to face a government shutdown?

You know, that's a question you need to ask the Republican majority and the speaker, although I'm not sure that they understand either when that could happen, because I don't think that they can come to an agreement on a pathway.

And so we don't have any idea.

I'm praying every night that we do that before the end of the fiscal year, because it's so disruptive to the economy, it's so disruptive to our families and community lives and to individuals that need services or depending upon supplementals from government.

And it is, you know, as we have the document before us, although we can't vote on it yet, it doesn't have the kind of protection of our national security by making sure that Ukraine has what it needs.

It's got a bunch of poison pills in it, riders that were not agreed to back in May, and it has a an additional cut of 8% to funding.

That is very hurtful and harmful for the foundational programs that support our families.

Yeah.

I'm curious, how are conversations going within your committee?

Speaker McCarthy and the President did agree to a spending number, about 1.6 trillion.

Would you vote for a plan that is less than that for the sake of avoiding this whole, you know, potential shutdown?

This is not functioning and not negotiating in, you know, in a positive way.

This is not this is not adhering to your word.

The people in this country do not want a government shutdown.

We know how it disrupts our just our daily needs and and movement.

But it doesn't seem to resonate with this small number of folks on the Republican conference that are holding the rational decisions, the legitimate decisions and the rational desires of some of their other colleagues for a decent movement, even though it would be temporary, we'd at least have something to ensure that people were not going to not be paid for their work, etc.

All we've tried to do as Democrats, we did it in the last Congress and keep fighting for it now is to take care of the needs of families to ensure that there is protection and dignity and that there is a national security and an acknowledgment that we're connected in systems around this world.

Is there one item in particular that being the riders that have to deal with asylum seekers or perhaps the Ukraine money or spending overall?

Is there one item in particular that Democrats, Democrats are planting their feet on that you absolutely will not cross the line?

Not going across the line on the 8% cuts, not going across the line on the lack of Ukraine, not going across the line on the disastrous spending.

Those three things I tell you right there, that those are the lines.

That is the line in the sand for us.

We're not going to contribute to hurting families, putting our national security in peril and not responding to the disasters that we see.

We're not going to do it if Republicans are hellbent on a government shutdown.

It's on them.

Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman is a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you for having me.

I hope we have better news to share.

I hope so, too.

Ten days we'll be here before we know it.

A lot of work ahead for you all.

Thank you for giving us some of your time, Congresswoman.

Thank you.