Since then the US Treasury has been using what are called extraordinary measures to keep paying the bills, but those measures run out on 17 October.
Not only will they hold more power in Congress when the latest spending measure runs out in March, but they are already making it difficult for the Obama administration to put its big legislative accomplishments into effect, including the health care and financial regulation laws.
If Mr. Boehner cannot persuade his members that the public does not want a government shutdown and will blame them, then much of the government will close its doors on April 8, when the current stopgap funding measure runs out.
In a conference call with reporters, Mr. Reid and Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat, said that they knew they had to make cuts but that there was not enough time to do so before the stopgap measure runs out.
He has warned that the extraordinary measures will run out on 17 October, at which point the Treasury will be running on $30bn in reserve cash, which with big interest and entitlements payouts on the near horizon is close to zilch.
The government has been juggling its debts to keep paying the bills, but those measures will run out between 22 October and the end of the month, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
"All the fixes they put in place in 1998 and 1999 were stopgap measures, but time has run out," said Brian Waterhouse, a senior banking analyst at HSBC Securities.
We are taking these measures because time is running out for our communities.
The short-term measure financing the government will run out at the end of September, raising the risk of a government shutdown.
