Congress has until March 14 to agree on a spending plan to avert a federal government shutdown.
Andy Winer, the executive vice president of Strategies 360 and former chief of staff for Sen. Brian Schatz, believes there is a 50-50 chance the government shuts down in less than two weeks.
When HPR spoke with Winer on Monday, he said he believed that lawmakers had run out of time to pass a full-year budget package
"It normally takes at least two weeks to draft a full budget bill," he said. "So just as a matter of fact, you can't get the bill drafted in time before March 14, and that is just at this point, literally impossible."
If a government shutdown were to occur, government services deemed nonessential would be paused.
"It's not like the military is going to stop being engaged, but almost every other type of federal government benefit or program that you're thinking of will likely not be accessible," Winer said.
"They won't be staffed, they won't pick up the phone, and they won't be able to respond to inquiries that are coming in from the public."
Congress still has two options. They can extend the current continuing resolution that's kept the federal government running since December, or they can pass a new short-term continuing resolution to keep the government open while negotiations continue on a full-year budget bill.
