A partial government shutdown appears imminent as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday declined to take up a Senate budget bill and Republican lawmakers’ efforts to coalesce around a government funding bill of their own did not close successfully.
Congress is facing a political impasse on the eve of a partial shutdown of the federal government, which could affect the pay of about 2 million federal government workers, as well as 2 million soldiers.
But the House of Representatives and the Senate are pursuing different paths to avoid those consequences, although time is running out to find a solution before Sunday.
The Senate is working to pass a bipartisan bill that would fund the government through Nov. 17, while negotiations on a long-term budget would continue, also providing $6 billion for Ukraine and $6 billion in aid for disaster-hit U.S. regions. .
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has secured votes on four of about ten annual funding bills for various government agencies in the hope that this will prompt enough Republicans to support a bill to temporarily fund the government and increase border security. United with Mexico. That looks difficult, but Mr McCarthy said an agreement on the budget would be reached.
“We will do this. I think we can work over the weekend. I think we can find a solution to this,” he said in an interview with CNBC on Thursday.
Matt Gaetz
Lawmakers are already tired of days of negotiations that are stretching into the late hours of the night. Tensions were evident in Mr. McCarthy’s closed-door meeting with Republicans on Thursday morning, which was punctuated by a tense exchange between the Speaker of the House and lawmaker Matt Gaetz, according to several people who attended the meeting. . Allies of Mr. McCarthy are angered by the tactics of Gaetz, who is one of the leaders of a hardline group of Republican lawmakers who are calling for drastic cuts in government spending and an end to illegal immigration at the US-U.S. border. Mexico.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has informed Republican lawmakers that he will introduce a temporary budget bill on Friday and try to secure some concessions from Democrats, who control the Senate.
In June, President Joe Biden reached a deal with Mr. McCarthy to raise the borrowing ceiling, which was signed into law by the President, and calls for about $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10 years.
Hardline Republicans are seeking deeper cuts, with about $120 billion in additional cuts for the new fiscal year alone, which could affect programs ranging from education and environmental protection to medical research.