NEWS
Budget Battle Continues After Congress Skirts Shutdown With Stopgap Spending Bill
Courtesy of speakermccarthy/Instagram
Although Congress passed a stopgap spending bill over the weekend to keep the government open, the budget battle continues, with some House Republicans threatening to strip Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) of his leadership position.
President Joe Biden late Saturday signed the bipartisan bill just before a shutdown went into effect, keeping the government funded until Nov. 17. While the bill did include funding for disaster relief, it did not include the aid for Ukraine sought by Biden and Democrats.
McCarthy had struggled to unite House Republicans behind a bill, as more conservative members of his caucus called for deep spending cuts and opposed any further aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion in February of last year.
“I am asking Republicans and Democrats alike, put your partisanship away, focus on the American public,” McCarthy said before the vote. “How can you in good conscience — think of the men and women who volunteer to risk their lives to defend us — to say they can’t be paid, be while we work out our differences — that is unfair. I cannot do that to our men and women in uniform.”
After the vote, calls mounted to oust McCarthy from the speakership.
“If somebody wants to remove (me) because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try,” McCarthy told reporters Saturday.
On Sunday, House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida threatened to file a motion to vacate the chair, which would prompt a vote to remove McCarthy from the speakership.
No Speaker has ever been removed from office through the little-used procedural tool.
But while far-right House Republicans work to remove McCarthy, lawmakers must still pass a full-year budget before funding runs out again on Nov. 17.
The White House and Democrats in Congress are pushing for Republicans to honor a deal they reached earlier this year.
“A few months ago, after a long negotiation between myself and the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, we came to agree on a budget agreement precisely to avoid a manufactured crisis that we just witnessed,” Biden said in a statement Sunday.
“But the last few days and weeks, extreme MAGA Republicans tried to walk away from that deal, voting for deep, drastic spending cuts from 30 to 80 percent that would’ve been devastating for millions of Americans. They failed again. They failed again, and we stopped them. But I’m under no illusions that they’ll be back again,” Biden said.
“You know, where I come from, when you make a deal, you give your word, you keep it. You give your word — you say, ‘I’m going to do what I said I’m going to do,’ and you do it. You keep it. You keep your word. And I expect the Republican Speaker and Republicans in Congress to honor their word and keep the deal they made months ago when they tried to threaten us with — to almost international bankruptcy by not paying our debts,” Biden said.
In response to these challenges, Janna Rodriguez, an early childhood educator and advocate, expressed her concern for the well-being of the nation’s children and the looming catastrophe that threatens the economy.
“Childcare, a critical economic issue, stands at the precipice of crisis, and the consequences will weigh heavily on the families of more than 3.2 million children nationwide. The childcare sector serves as the cornerstone of workforce support, a foundation upon which the entire nation’s productivity rests.”
Like Biden, Rodriguez implored “every elected official, irrespective of political leanings or ideologies, to cast aside partisanship.”
Adding to the financial perspective, Ted Jenkin, co-founder of Exit Stage Left Advisors, raised concerns about the financial implications of the ongoing budget battle and its potential impact on the nation.
“After love, money is the number two reason people get divorced. If we aren’t careful, not only will the country permanently be in debt but what will ensue is a nasty separation of our political parties that may not be recovered,” Jenkin said. “No politician would encourage the average American to get into $1 million of credit card debt. But, that’s exactly the example our political leaders are setting while blaming each other for the problem.”
TMX contributed to this article.
