[Aevery_Freeman]

From the article and in the source:"as Congress careers toward a government shutdown."

Nice editing, editor.

I think you meant 'careens'.

[hinckley buzzard]

Could be either.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"I think you meant 'careens'."

I was going to write the same thing, but decided to look up 'Careen' vs. 'Career.' Turns out it's a fascinating story of word etymology and "career" is acceptable these days (though, like you, "careen" feels better).

From the cited link...

In fact, one intransitive sense of careen is defined as a synonym of career, which is itself defined as "to go at top speed especially in a headlong manner."

Despite their one-letter-off resemblance, careen and career are not etymologically related. Career finds its origins in medieval jousting tournaments. Before it came to be the preferred term for one's professional path, the noun career (from Middle French carriere) referred not only to the courses ridden by knights but also the act of riding a horse at a rapid clip in short bursts.

The verb careen, meanwhile, originally described the action of putting a ship or boat on land, usually in order to clean, caulk, or repair the hull. To careen a boat, you need to tilt it on its side. Careen gradually became used to describe the act of a boat tipping over in rough waters, or the similar tilting of other things.

So how did this verb get conflated with career? As motor vehicles became commonplace, careen became a useful word to describe the lurching, side-to-side motion that a vehicle would make when it was racing out of control, thus the overlap between careen and career.

Traditional usage commentators frown upon this overlap, insisting that careen shouldn't be used for something that is only moving at a headlong pace without any kind of side-to-side motion. But popular use tends to drown out those objections. Nowadays, careen is actually the preferred verb for rushing forward, particularly in American English.

Language is always interesting. Here we go from Medieval jousting tournaments to overturned boats leading to something moving headlong, out-of-control, at high speed.

[IYAS9YAS]

I think you meant 'careens'.

No. Career, as a verb, is perfectly acceptable here:

Career (verb): move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way in a specified direction (more commonly used in Britain)

Careen (verb): 1) move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way in a specified direction. (More commonly used North America)
2) turn (a ship) on its side for cleaning, caulking, or repair (original meaning).

[rightwingcrazy]

career

2 of 2
verb
careered; careering; careers
intransitive verb

: to go at top speed especially in a headlong manner
a car careered off the road