With a week left to reach agreement to fund government, federal agencies are being told to prepare for a shutdown

The White House will tell federal agencies today to begin preparing to shut down, as prospects for an agreement in Congress to keep funding the government remain cloudy, The Washington Post reports. A shutdown would have an impact on rural America, from Agriculture Department programs to national parks and most other federal functions, including response to the pandemic.

"Administration officials stress the request is in line with traditional procedures seven days ahead of a shutdown and not a commentary on the likelihood of a congressional deal," the Post reports. "Democrats and Republicans have made clear they intend to fund the government before its funding expires on Sept. 30, but time is running out and lawmakers are aiming to resolve an enormous set of tasks to in a matter of weeks."

Bill Hoagland, a senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center and former Republican staff director for the Senate Budget Committee, warned that parts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health would close in a shutdown, the Post reports: "Hoagland said a very brief shutdown may occur but said he doubted it would go on for 'any length of time'." But he also said, “This would be the first shutdown during a declaration of national emergency. In the midst of an ongoing pandemic and non-resolved issues related to the delta virus, to have a shutdown of some of the major federal agencies would add unbelievable complications to our ability to recover.”