| The clock is ticking to avoid a government shutdown this week and a potential, catastrophic default on U.S. debt in the next few weeks. Democrats are also trying to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill and unify — if they can — behind a massive social policy and climate change package. This week is a crucial one to get all that done. Here's how it might go down, day by day. Monday In the Senate: Lawmakers will take a key procedural vote on a funding bill to keep the government open. It's expected to fail when Republicans block it. That's because it includes language to suspend the debt ceiling so the Treasury Department can borrow money to pay its existing debt. Republicans are refusing to provide votes to raise the debt ceiling (normally a bipartisan vote). When this vote fails, Senate Democrats have to make a big decision quickly. Do they acquiesce to Republican demands and try to approve a debt ceiling suspension on their own? Or do they continue to pressure Republicans to help out and tie the debt ceiling to a vote to keep the government open? It's a game of chicken that could lead to a government shutdown in days.  (Win McNamee/Getty Images) | In the House: Lawmakers will start debating a bipartisan infrastructure bill with the goal of voting on it and sending it to President Biden's desk this week, a promise House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made to centrists. But liberals want to hold off until a big, $3.5 trillion social policy/climate change bill is done, and lawmakers are still working on that. Pelosi can only afford three Democratic defections, and there are potentially a dozen or more on each side of this. So she is going to have some tricky internal politics to navigate. Tuesday After Monday's inevitably failing vote in the Senate to keep the government open and raise the debt ceiling, much of this day will be spent testing Republicans' resolve. "I think Republicans may be a little bit crazy, but they're not that crazy." That's Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) recently, saying he thinks at least 10 Republicans will come around to helping Democrats vote to suspend the debt ceiling and keep the government open by Thursday. But will they?
"Do you guys think I'm bluffing?" Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the architect of his party's strategy not to provide votes for the debt ceiling, asked Punchbowl News recently.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) on Monday. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) | Wednesday If Democrats can't convince Republicans to vote for raising the debt ceiling, Democrats will have to put together and vote on a new spending bill without a debt ceiling increase. Republicans have said they'll vote for this. Democrats are determined not to have a government shutdown on their watch, even if it means backing down from a game of chicken with Republicans. Thursday The deadline to fund federal agencies comes at midnight. If Congress can't get a spending bill to Biden's desk by midnight, the government will shut down. "The worst time in the world we want to shut down the government is in the middle of a pandemic," Anthony S. Fauci, the president's chief medical adviser, recently told The Washington Post. Friday Even if Congress manages to avoid a shut down, the House is probably still working on how to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill and Democrats' massive social-safety-net legislation. Some liberal Democrats say they won't vote for the first without the second. A handful of centrist Democrats say they won't vote for the second without the first. And Democrats are starting to acknowledge that, aside from keeping the government open, much of this could be unresolved into next week. 'My faith is strong, but I'm very concerned'  Liberal demonstrators push for Congress to pass its $3.5 trillion spending bill to expand social safety nets. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for MoveOn) | That's a Democratic Party member in North Carolina, watching all of the above going on in Washington, D.C., and genuinely worried that Democrats' legislative agenda will fall apart, report The Post's Sean Sullivan and Tyler Pager. What happens if Democrats, who have control of the White House and slim majorities in both chambers of Congress, can't deliver on their promises to expand Medicare and Medicaid, provide universal pre-kindergarten, deal with climate change, make college more affordable and tax the rich? All of that is in Democrats' $3.5 trillion spending bill that they are racing to put together but struggling to find consensus on. Not to mention that Democrats are the ones in charge when the nation is facing a potential shutdown and a potential first-ever default on its debts. And what happens if Democrats who campaigned on a return to normalcy and competency aren't able to find normal? They worry it could fuel anti-government sentiment that gave rise to Donald Trump and, ultimately, an attack on the Capitol. So, yeah, the stakes are high this week in Congress. | 
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