Photo by photographynatalia.

As things stand, the federal government will run out of money on Friday night. Reports are that tonight is the drop dead point for Senate and House leaders to get something on paper to avert a federal shutdown. Obviously, such an event would have a sizable effect on the District of Columbia — not only because the government is housed here, but also because so much of the city’s financial processes are tied to Congress.

Concern about a possible shutdown got real this morning. At the Council’s breakfast meeting before today’s legislative session, Mark Segraves reports that Council Chair Kwame Brown told his colleagues that he had designated all Council staff as “essential” to the Office of Management and Budget, which would allow them to keep working during a shutdown. But that designation was questioned by OMB, a development that At-Large Councilmember David Catania called “bullshit.” In 1995, then-mayor Marion Barry kept the city moving during a shutdown by declaring a rather large number of its workers as “essential.”

It’s quite possible that any kind of interruption to federal operations could put a serious crimp in Council deliberations over Mayor Vince Gray’s recently released budget. Of course, even if Congress manages to hammer out a deal to keep the government funded, it’s likely that a Republican provision to prevent federal and local funds from being spent on abortions in the District would be part of the compromise.

Ain’t life without representation grand?