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Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is on his third strategy to avoid a budget-related government shutdown at the end of the month after suffering a series of defeats from conservatives in his own party.
McCarthy was forced to take a procedural vote on a GOP-only stopgap plan and met sustained opposition from lawmakers, even after proposing adjustments.
And he had to watch as a Pentagon spending bill was rejected in a procedural vote (underestimated by its own members) twice in three days.
Speaker McCarthy sent House members home for the rest of the week without a clear plan to avoid an imminent government shutdown after hardliners in the Republican conference once again scuttled his plans to federal spending, causing an embarrassing defeat for the Republican Party leadership for the second time this week, according to CNN.
The Republican leader harshly criticized his far-right flank for wanting to “burn the place down”after conservatives dramatically opposed McCarthy and GOP leadership in a procedural vote on a Pentagon funding bill, throwing the House into complete paralysis.
And now, lawmakers won’t meet again until Tuesday, when the possibility of a government shutdown late next week looks increasingly likely.
“It’s frustrating in the sense that I don’t understand why anyone would vote against putting the idea forward and having the debate,” McCarthy told reporters.
Thursday’s failed vote marked another blow for McCarthywho is under pressure and has faced threats of overthrow.
Derailed Defense Funding Bill Typically Wins Broad Bipartisan Supporta sign of how even normally uncontroversial issues have become embroiled in Republican infighting.
McCarthy’s narrow margin in the House means that in most votes it can only lose four members without any support from the Democrats and absences of representatives can increase or decrease the majority threshold.
What was McCarthy’s plan?
Late Wednesday afternoon, McCarthy briefed his closed-door conference on a potential new plan to keep the government openor, with deeper spending cuts and new border security measures, in an attempt to win over wary members of his right flank.
The plan would keep the government open for 30 days with a spending level of $1.47 trillion, a commission to address debt and a border security package.
Separately, they also agreed to move year-long funding bills to a level of $1.53 trillion, below the bipartisan agreement McCarthy reached with the White House to raise the national debt limit.
It’s unknown whether Republicans could actually unite around the plan, but even if they did, it would fail to reach the Senate, making it unviable as an option to avoid a shutdown.
However, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took a procedural step Thursday that would allow the Senate to vote on a short-term government funding bill next week.
“As I have said for months, we must work in a bipartisan manner to keep our government open, avoid a shutdown, and avoid inflicting unnecessary pain on the American people. This action will give the Senate the option to do just that,” Schumer said.
Keep reading:
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– Biden criticized House Republicans’ budget proposals as possible government shutdown looms