(Image Source: Creative Commons) 

BY VICTORIA CRAIG
ANCHOR LAUREN GORES

You're watching multisource political video news analysis from Newsy. 

Doomsday 2011 is upon us once again... This time the fear of a government shutdown hinges on disaster relief funding. In a press conference Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, FEMA only has money to operate through Monday or Tuesday. But Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander Republican told CNN that’s simply not true.

“I’ll give the Senate Democratic leader most of the credit. He manufactured a crisis all week about a disaster when there’s no crisis. Everybody knows we’re going to pay for every single penny of disaster aid that the president declares and that FEMA certifies. And the House sent over a bill that does that and the Senate should’ve approved it.”

On Friday, the Senate defeated a bill -- passed by the House -- that would have kept the government operating until November 18 and provide disaster relief funds. As the International Business Times reports, this is the third time in only five months the threat of shutdown has lingered.

“In a nutshell, Senate Democrats want a larger Hurricane Irene / tornado / disaster relief bill and no offsetting spending cuts, whereas House Republicans want a smaller disaster relief bill with its spending offset by cuts to programs important to the Democratic Party -- including job-creating programs.”

With Republicans hoping for deep spending cuts, the dispute over funding isn’t how much money to spend, but where the money should come from. CBS reports a new plan is in the works.

“Majority Leader Harry Reid’s bill to be voted on Monday totals a trillion dollars with 3.7 billion going to FEMA disaster aid. But it drops 1.6 billion in Republican proposed spending cuts that Democrats argue would cost up to 10 thousand jobs.”

The Senate vote on the new Democrat plan isn’t expected until late Monday...a decision Politico says is risky.

“If he falls short Monday evening, Reid will be faced with a crucial decision: Either allow the Senate to pass a House Republican stopgap budget bill that Democrats blocked on Friday, or try to forge a new way forward that could peel off enough Senate GOP support and force the House to return from recess to pass their plan.”

Monday morning, Republican Senator Scott Brown called the threat of a government shutdown “disgusting.” He is expected to vote with Democrats on the Reid proposal.



Transcript by Newsy.