The House of Representatives is expected to be out of action for the next four days after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s latest bid to move a defense spending bill — and break the Republican deadlock over government funding — caught fire Thursday.
With both houses of Congress expected to return on Tuesday after breaking the fast over the weekend and the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, they have just five days to avoid a partial shutdown that many in Washington see as inevitable.
McCarthy (R-Calif.) expressed confidence Thursday morning that House Republicans are close to a breakthrough on a stopgap spending measure that would keep the government fully operational after Sept. 30. The day before, he had said he would plan to keep the House in session on Friday and Saturday to allow work to continue.
But the speaker got a reality check after a vote to begin debating the $886 billion defense appropriations measure failed 216-212 — the second time in three days the attempt has been blocked and the third time since McCarthy took over as speaker in January that he has lost a rules vote.
Matt Gaetz quickly emerged as the chief antagonist of the speaker in the spending fight. Getty Images
Six Republicans – Andy Biggs of Arizona, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Eli Crane of Arizona, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Matt Rosendale of Montana, joined 210 Democrats to defeat the test vote.
Currently, McCarthy can only lose four GOP votes and still pass the bill with only Republican support.
“This is a new concept of individuals who just want to burn the whole place down. That didn’t work,” McCarthy told reporters after the vote.
I only voted NO to the rules for the Defense bill because they refused to take out war money for Ukraine and put it in a separate bill.
And 55% of Americans and 71% of Republican voters agree with me that we should stop funding the war in Ukraine.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene?? (@RepMTG) September 21, 2023
“This hurts. It gives me a headache. This is a series of very difficult mistakes by our conference,” Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) told Politico. “If you can’t do it [the defense bill]what can you do?”
Republican rebels, led by McCarthy’s nemesis Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), wants to see progress on a separate appropriations bill before lending his vote to any stopgap measure — known as a CR in Washington parlance.
A compromise proposal unveiled by House Republicans late Sunday calls for spending cuts of 8% from current levels — except for the Pentagon, Veterans Affairs and disaster relief — in exchange for keeping the government open until Oct. 31. But the rebels were not impressed.
Marjorie Taylor Greene is unwavering in her demand that funding for Ukraine be stripped from the spending deal.Getty Images
“We should be passing our appropriations bill now,” Greene told Fox News. “We have wasted a week to buy another four weeks. That is still not enough time, and we will soon be back in the same situation.”
“I just hope they will take the same amount of energy and effort and put it towards developing the appropriations bill as they developed this fake CR,” added Rosendale.
“CR is like Lay’s potato chips,” Gaetz said. “It seems you can’t stop at just one. And this is like the entrance CR that they are [House leadership] want to pass They want to do a 30-day CR and then that will lead to another CR and then that will lead to an omnibus bill. That is the muscle memory of this city for the past seven years. I’m fed up.”
Speaker Kevin McCarthy has begun lashing out more often at those in his caucus who oppose him. Reuters
The rejection has also been reinforced by former President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday night demanded that Republicans “reject all aspects of the armed Government of Crooked Joe Biden.”
“This is also the last chance to overturn this political prosecution of me and other Patriots,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They failed on the debt limit, but they cannot fail now. Use the power of the wallet and defend the Nation!”
House Democrats oppose the defense bill over provisions that prohibit Pentagon spending on training involving critical race theories, fire the Defense Department’s chief diversity officer, and ban drag shows on military bases, among other hot-button issues.
This isn’t Kevin McCarthy’s first rodeo. He muddled through past GOP fights over the speakership and the debt ceiling. AP
Opposition Republicans cited the provision of extending support for Ukraine as their reason to oppose the bill on the same day Kyiv President Volodymyr Zelensky pitched lawmakers on more support.
“I only voted NO on the rules for the Defense bill because they refused to take out war money for Ukraine and put it in a separate bill,” Greene said on social media. “And 55% of Americans and 71% of Republican voters agree with me that we should stop funding the war in Ukraine.”
Ahead of the defense bill vote, McCarthy’s team is reportedly eyeing a stopgap bill that would fund the entire government for $1.471 trillion and include a commission to cut spending, a proposal that will almost certainly be a non-starter for Senate Democrats.
Meanwhile, the Senate has yet to pass any of the 12 appropriations bills and is at odds with the House on top-line numbers.
Chuck Schumer says House members insulted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to Ukraine by refusing additional aid.AP
On Wednesday, the upper house again failed to advance a so-called “minibus” package of three spending bills to fund agriculture and military construction, transportation and housing, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Back in May, debt ceiling negotiators agreed to cap spending at $1.59 trillion, but hardline Republicans have been stewing over that concession for months.
They’re looking for a top end closer to the $1.471 trillion level, which is the base discretionary spending level for fiscal year 2022. It’s also the GOP’s initial offer on the debt ceiling flap.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
