On Saturday, the House of Representatives passed a “clean” interim funding bill to avoid a government shutdown. The legislation was sent to the Senate for consideration just hours before the midnight funding deadline.
The measure would maintain current levels of government spending for 45 days and includes $16 billion in disaster relief, the same amount requested by the White House in a supplemental proposal. However, it does not include aid for Ukraine or any changes to border policies.
The House overwhelmingly approved the interim bill on a bipartisan vote of 335-91, shortly after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) introduced the proposal. Ninety Republicans and one Democrat voted against it.
The move marks a significant shift in President McCarthy’s approach to funding the government, potentially putting his presidency at risk as conservative members of the House step up their threats to remove him from office.
At the same time, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced that Senate Republicans would not support the Senate’s bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) and instead postponed the plan chamber The Senate proposal would have funded the government through Nov. 17 and would include $5.99 billion in disaster relief and $6.15 billion in aid to Ukraine.
McCarthy had previously indicated that he would not bring the Senate measure to a vote in the House because of concerns among conservative members about funding for Ukraine and the absence of border security provisions. Support for Ukraine has become a contentious issue within the House GOP conference.
McCarthy’s decision to introduce a clean interim bill represents a departure from his previous position on government funding. In recent weeks, he had asked his conference to rally behind a GOP-drafted interim bill that included provisions for border security. This strategy was intended to give Republicans more leverage in negotiations with Democrats in the Senate and the White House. McCarthy had played down the possibility of working with Democrats to avoid a shutdown, stressing the importance of including border security measures in any funding legislation.
However, on Friday, a group of 21 conservatives voted against the GOP interim bill, leaving McCarthy with limited options to avoid a shutdown before the looming deadline. Shortly after the failed vote, the president proposed a “clean” interim bill without Ukrainian funding, and that proposal was approved Saturday morning.
While Saturday’s vote moves the country closer to avoiding a government shutdown, it also raises the risk that McCarthy could lose the presidency. Hard-line Republicans had been publicly warning for weeks that the president could face a no-confidence vote if he worked with Democrats on government funding.
In response to those threats, McCarthy declared Saturday that he would not be deterred, saying, “If somebody wants to take me out because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try it. But I think this country is too important. And I I’m going to stand with our military. I’m going to stand with our border agents. I’m also going to stand with those who have to get their medicine from the government. I think that’s too important.”
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