Congress is taking up some key votes this week, including government funding legislation, ahead of a Friday deadline to avert a government shutdown. The Senate is expected to take the first major procedural steps on the legislation Monday, but it requires 60 votes to proceed, and many Republicans have expressed opposition to raising the debt ceiling.

There have been several government shutdowns in the past few decades, the most recent of which lasted from December 2018 to January 2019. If the government shuts down this week, there’s a question of how it could impact the ongoing pandemic response.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins raised that issue to Jen Psaki during Monday’s White House press briefing.

“What is your understanding on what happens to the CDC and the FDA’s work on the pandemic if the government loses funding this week?” she asked.

“It is never a good thing for the government to shut down,” Psaki said. “And that is why we are doing everything we can to prevent that from happening.”

“A great deal of public health, if not all of it, most of the public health work would be exempted from a government shutdown, but that doesn’t change the fact that having services shut down, staffing cut in different agencies is not in the interest of addressing any crisis we face, including the pandemic,” she continued.

“So will they continue to work at 100 percent when it comes to the pandemic response or what is the preparation for that?” Collins asked again.

Psaki reiterated they’re making “contingency plans” but that “public health officials for the most part would be exempt.”

You can watch above, via Fox News.

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