Kevin McCarthy urges House Republicans to get onside as shutdown looms
Things are moving fast as the House Republican leadership is scrambling to find enough support to pass a continuing resolution funding the government ahead of the shutdown deadline at midnight.
Several Democrats have indicated that they’re likely to vote yes on the bill, which includes disaster relief funding but no money for Ukraine’s defence against the Russian invasion.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy appears to have decided to go ahead with the bill despite the risk that it may prompt far-right members of his party to move to remove him from the post.
“If I have to risk my job for standing up for the American public, I will do that,” he told the press on Sunday.
Democrats appeared frustrated at the short amount of time provided to go through the 71-page legislation.
“It was just dropped upon us at the 11th hour,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, according to Axios.
Rep Dan Kildee of Michigan added that they’re still trying to figure out “if it’s actually a clean CR. It’s not clear that’s actually the case”.
Many Democrats expected to support CR
Many House Democrats are expected to vote yes on the CR.
“I think most Dems are going to vote for” the bill one member told Axios. “A few [are] upset.”
A number of senior members are telling others to support the bill, including Jim McGovern, Mike Thompson, and Zoe Lofgren.
Top McCarthy ally says GOP open to address ‘legitimate concerns’ from Democrats
In resurfaced clip, McCarthy speaks about having sandwich named after him
McConnell says Republicans will reject advancement of bipartisan CR
Jeffries brings up abortion as he slams Republicans for threatening shutdown
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said during his magic minute speech on Saturday that “we want the American people to understand that on this side of the aisle, we don’t believe that our colleagues on the Republican side should threaten a government shutdown as part of their effort to criminalize abortion care”.
Jeffries slams GOP for dropping legislation at ‘11th hour'
‘This 45-day CR is not does not liberate us from our nation’s financial challenges,’ Gaetz says
Matt Gaetz told reporters on Saturday that “our plan is to continue to build support for our single subject spending bills”.
“And this 45-day CR is not does not liberate us from our nation's financial challenges – [we] remain $33tn in debt. We're facing $2.2tn annual deficits. You know, right now, literally our government is trying to figure out how much more we want to deficit spend so that we could send money to Ukraine. And that is crazy to me,” he added.
“You know, we did see at our conference meeting last night a calendar for the first time where the leadership laid out how they wanted to take up single-subject spending bills, but they're only doing that with a political gun to their head. They're only doing that because we're forcing them and, you know, if we can use our leverage to get the House to take these things up ... I think that's probably good,” the Floridian said.
On the brink of a government shutdown, the Senate tries to approve funding but it’s almost too late
Come midnight Saturday with no deal in place, federal workers will face furloughs, more than 2 million active duty and reserve military troops will work without pay and programs and services that Americans rely on from coast to coast will begin to face shutdown disruptions.
The Senate will be in for a rare Saturday session to advance its own bipartisan package that is supported by Democrats and Republicans and would fund the government for the short-term, through Nov. 17.
But even if the Senate can rush to wrap up its work this weekend to pass the bill, which also includes money for Ukraine aid and U.S. disaster assistance, it won’t prevent an almost certain shutdown amid the chaos in the House. On Friday, a massive hard-right revolt left Speaker Kevin McCarthy‘s latest plan to collapse.
“Congress has only one option to avoid a shutdown — bipartisanship,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
What Dianne Feinstein’s death means for control of the Senate and the looming government shutdown
Feinstein, a centrist Democrat who had represented California since 1992, had medical struggles in recent months that already had prompted questions about whether she’d resign and who might replace her.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to pick a replacement soon. An election to pick the state’s next senator serving a full six-year term is scheduled for next year.
Here’s a look at what Feinstein’s death means for the Senate at a critical time on Capitol Hill:
