September 29, 2023
We are about 24 hours away from a government shutdown.
House Republicans met for several hours this afternoon after failing to pass a bill to keep the government open this morning. Despite the house speaker saying he had several options to keep the government open — by the end of the meeting – Republicans had no solid plan to avoid a shutdown.
So now what?
Well, the Speaker said some interesting things after that meeting. Before I tell you what he said you have to understand… the Senate is still working on their bipartisan short term spending plan called a continuing resolution that would keep the government open until November 17th. That plan would keep the government funding status quo, plus add $6 billion for FEMA to respond to natural disasters and $6 billion for Ukraine. The senate is planning take the first votes on this bill tomorrow but because of Senate rules — it would probably not get a final vote until late Sunday or Monday…which as we know is well past the shutdown deadline.
If and when the senate passes this bill, whether it’s tomorrow or Sunday or Monday — the House will also have to pass it in order to put an end to a government shutdown. Up until now – House Speaker McCarthy has said he would not even entertain this senate bill.
But tonight – it sounds like he’s changing his mind.
Because he is all out of options, and knows the problems he’s going to face if the government shuts down, Speaker McCarthy said tonight — if the Senate strips the Ukraine funding out of the bill, he thinks he can get his Republican members on board and pass it. That would mean McCarthy would be abandoning the spending cuts and the border policies the republicans have been fighting for.
Now it’s unclear if the Senate has any incentive to change the bill they’ve been working on which has wide bipartisan support. And if the truth is – if McCarthy puts the senate bill – including Ukraine funding – on the floor of the House for a vote – it would absolutely pass with an overwhelming group of Democrats and Republicans. But if he does that – his far right colleagues have already said they would file a motion to remove him as Speaker.
Lawmakers will be back at work tomorrow and it’s going to be very very interesting.
