| First, a Trump indictment update: There isn't much of one. The deadline came and went last week for Donald Trump to appear before a grand jury to talk about his efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election. He didn't show. (Few defendants actually take this step, preferring to save their defense for a trial.) But now that the deadline has passed, an indictment could be coming any day or week for Trump, say former federal prosecutors I've talked to. Will the federal government shut down in October? It's possible. Some lawmakers even say it's likely. Government shutdowns usually happen when there's divided government. That's the situation we have now, plus a fairly powerful far-right group of House Republicans who want to cut federal spending and seem willing to threaten to force a shutdown to get it. The deadline to fund the government for another year is the last day in September. That's coming up quick, because Congress takes most of August off.  Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) last year on the day of a deadline to avoid a federal shutdown. (Sarah Silbiger for The Washington Post) | A shutdown is different from a default. It's not quite as catastrophic. Congress narrowly avoided a default this year by raising the debt ceiling and allowing the Treasury Department to keep issuing debt to pay its bills. A shutdown closes national parks, stops food safety inspections and leaves hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks. The most recent government shutdown came in December 2018 during a battle between Trump and House Democrats over the U.S.-Mexico border wall. It ended up being the longest ever, at 34 days. The Washington Post's Jeff Stein explains more about how a shutdown could happen this fall. Reader question: Why are states allowed to spend their covid funds on projects unrelated to covid?  Construction in Washington, D.C., last month. (Mary Claire Molloy/The Washington Post) | The short answer is that during the height of the pandemic, Congress was trying to get money to states quickly and with few restrictions, and that lack of rules meant that some officials spent the money on projects seemingly unrelated to the pandemic: cutting taxes, building border walls and rebuilding prisons. Whitney Tucker, director of state fiscal policy research for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities told The 5-Minute Fix that because the funds were meant to help states respond to and recover from the pandemic, the flexibility allowed officials to use it to address the specific needs of their communities. "Flexibility can also lead to poor choices, but in general the funds were used in ways that helped communities recover and be better prepared for future pandemics," she said. But there were some eyebrow-raising choices. Some local officials argued that their pet projects fit the bill because they would have started them sooner if the pandemic hadn't cut into their revenue. One Florida city put $2 million in federal coronavirus aid toward a new golf course. And The Post's Tony Romm reports that disadvantaged communities are losing out on desperately needed federal funds to fix aging pipes and clean up local drinking water as members of Congress earmark federal money for pet projects, often for wealthier areas. | 
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