Logo

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pumped the brakes Wednesday on hopes that a bipartisan Senate spending deal would be enough to prevent a government shutdown in three days, bluntly telling reporters, “I don’t see the support in the House” for the measure.

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) endorsed a bipartisan temporary spending patch, known in Washington parlance as a continuing resolution or CR.

The Senate proposal would keep the government’s lights on until Nov. 17, giving both parties and both chambers of Congress time to negotiate a longer-term appropriations package.

That evening, the Senate voted 77-19 to clear a procedural hurdle to advance the measure, with only Republicans in opposition.

“We can fund the government for another six weeks,” McConnell said Wednesday, “or we can shut the government down in exchange for zero meaningful progress on policy.”

Looming over McCarthy’s apprehension about taking up the bipartisan Senate bill are threats to oust him from his position via a motion to vacate the chair.

Hard-right lawmakers such as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) don’t want McCarthy (R-Calif.) to bypass their opposition to a continuing resolution by turning to Democrats for support. McCarthy has publicly downplayed the threats of an ouster.

The current iteration of the Senate’s CR would keep the government funding around “present levels” while allotting a little over $6 billion in both military and economic support for Ukraine and $6 billion for domestic disaster relief.

The Ukraine aid is a nonstarter for Republican holdouts in the House, where McCarthy can only afford to lose four votes and still pass legislation along party lines.

“That thing is dead over here,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) told reporters about the Senate deal. “You have $6.2 billion for Ukraine, they do nothing to secure our Southern border — that is just a nonstarter.”

“The Senate wants to send MORE money to Ukraine. We do not., Here’s a compromise: The House will agree to send Ukraine the gold bars and cash foreigners used to bribe Senator [Bob] Menendez,” Gaetz (R-Fla.) posted on social media Wednesday.


  Kevin McCarthy implied that the Senate’s bipartisan CR deal is likely a nonstarter in the House. REUTERS Kevin McCarthy implied that the Senate’s bipartisan CR deal is likely a nonstarter in the House. REUTERS

  Mitch McConnell split from his House counterpart, urging passage of the bipartisan deal to keep the government’s lights on. MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Mitch McConnell split from his House counterpart, urging passage of the bipartisan deal to keep the government’s lights on. MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

McCarthy did score a win Tuesday evening when the House advanced consideration of four separate appropriations bills by a 216-212 vote, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) the only Republican dissenter. McCarthy said he hopes to pass those bills “by Thursday.”

Despite Greene’s opposition to the rules vote, she managed to slip in an amendment to the defense appropriations bill Wednesday to slash Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s salary to $1.


  Chuck Schumer bashed Kevin McCarthy’s leadership over the rambunctious House GOP caucus. AFP via Getty Images Chuck Schumer bashed Kevin McCarthy’s leadership over the rambunctious House GOP caucus. AFP via Getty Images

To permanently fund the government for the next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, Congress must pass 12 appropriations bills.

So far, the House has only passed one, while the Senate has approved none — necessitating a CR to keep the government fully open past 11:59 p.m. Sept. 30.

McCarthy has urged President Biden to come to the negotiating table and demanded that he bolster border security in exchange for a CR.

“The president can take action. The president could do something here that would really help us be able to keep government open and at the same time, secure our borders,” McCarthy added.


  Leading hard-liner Rep. Matt Gaetz has opposed CRs in general. AP Leading hard-liner Rep. Matt Gaetz has opposed CRs in general. AP

The speaker pointed to Democrat governors in New York, Massachusetts and elsewhere who have been inundated with migrants pouring into their states.

Already the US has blown past fiscal year 2022’s record-breaking number of migrant encounters, with over 2.86 million recorded this fiscal year, according to US Customs and Border Protection.

But Democrats are sour on McCarthy for reneging on the agreed-upon $1.59 trillion top-line funding figure from debt ceiling negotiations earlier this year.

The four appropriations bills championed by the House are clocking in below that threshold, putting the lower chamber at odds with the Senate.

Comments
anonymous profile image
Powered by RoundtableBuilt on infrastructure designed for real-time media. Learn more at RTB.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy