POLITICS
Congress Is Days Away From A Government Shutdown With No Clear Plan
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With a government shutdown just days away, the House of Representatives is expected to vote Tuesday evening on four bills to fund parts of the government while the budget debate continues, as the Senate prepares its own bipartisan plan.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has struggled to unite House Republicans behind a deal, as more conservative members push for widespread domestic spending cuts and take a hard line against more aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
Republicans hold a slim four-seat majority in the House, but a faction of conservative lawmakers have blocked McCarthy’s attempts to pass a continuing resolution, which would keep temporarily keep the government open while negotiations continue on the full budget.
A package of four separate bills to fund the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Agriculture and State are expected to be up for a vote on Tuesday, but some Republican holdouts remain, including Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
“Congress should be focused on AMERICA, not Ukraine,” Greene posted Monday on X, formerly Twitter. “Tomorrow, I will VOTE NO on the rule to advance a BLANK CHECK to Ukraine. How many Republicans will join me & how many will vote to fund Biden’s proxy war?”
More moderate Republicans teamed with Democrats in the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus and last week unveiled a plan to use a discharge petition to circumvent McCarthy and bring a bill to the floor for a vote without him.
Caucus co-chair Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.) appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday and said that the Problem Solvers Caucus “will do whatever it takes to get that bill on the floor.”
“We don’t allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good and we take the perspective that we’d rather get 80% of something rather than 100% of nothing,” Fitzpatrick said.
The plans advanced by more conservative House lawmakers would be dead on arrival the Democrat-led Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said he is in talks with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to potentially pass a continuing resolution through their chamber first.
But the Senate, too, is facing resistance from some Republicans on President Joe Biden’s request for an additional $24 billion in funding for Ukraine, as well as $16 billion in funding for domestic aid afters natural disasters.
The White House this week warned that a shutdown would jeopardize food assistance for nearly 7 million women and children Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and would force more than a million active-duty troops to continue working without pay.
“Extreme House Republicans are playing partisan games with peoples’ lives,” the White House said in a statement. “House Republicans have turned their backs on the bipartisan budget deal that a large majority of them voted for just a few months ago and proposed a continuing resolution (CR) that makes devastating cuts to programs that millions of hardworking Americans count on.”
TMX contributed to this article.
