Here’s the update from Metro government relations staff from late Friday — doesn’t appear much has changed over the weekend:

While the U.S. Senate has moved to adopt a continuing resolution to keep the federal government operating at a level consistent with sequestration levels ($986 billion), it remains unclear what the U.S. House of Representatives will do next to avoid a government shutdown. A memorandum released yesterday by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) noted that in the event of a shutdown next week roughly 95% of the agency’s staff would be furloughed. The Federal Highway Administration, which operates under contract authority authorized by MAP-21, may largely avoid the furlough of employees.

As of Friday afternoon, House leaders were considering their options, including the option of adopting a week-long continuing resolution which would give both the Senate and House more time to work out their differences and avert a government shutdown next Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. We will be in close contact with the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) over the weekend as we continue to gauge the impact of a potential government shutdown on our agency.

As we’ve mentioned before, one likely impact of the FTA being largely shuttered is that processing of Metro grant applications — i.e. for the Regional Connector and Purple Line Extension — could be delayed.

Here’s the latest media story from the New York Times, which suggests that in D.C. the conversation has largely shifted from a possible deal to who is at fault. Shocker!