Congress is deadlocked, just days ahead of a devastating federal shutdown that will see many federal officials stop receiving paychecks. 2 million employeesand 2 million active-duty and reservist troops, furloughing many of those workers and cutting government services.
But the House and Senate are pursuing different paths to avoid those consequences, even as time is running out before government funding expires after midnight Saturday.
“I still have time. I have time to do other things,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol Thursday night, adding, “Eventually, we’re going to get everything done.”
The Senate is working hard to pass bipartisan measures The funds will fund the government until Nov. 17 as long-running negotiations continue, along with $6 billion for Ukraine and $6 billion for U.S. disaster relief.
Meanwhile, the House took on four of the dozen annual spending bills that fund federal agencies. Republicans were heartened that they passed three bills to fund the Defense, Homeland Security and State Departments, although a fourth bill to fund federal farm programs failed.
In a sign of growing resistance to aid to Ukraine, more than half of House Republicans voted against $300 million in military aid to Ukraine, even though the funding was approved in a bipartisan vote of 311 to 117.
House action on appropriations legislation will not stop the government shutdown, but leadership hopes the development will convince enough Republicans to support a House-made continuing resolution that could temporarily fund the government, Improve security On the U.S.-Mexico border.
Although unlikely, McCarthy predicted a deal would be reached.
Lawmakers, already fatigued from days of late-night negotiations, showed signs of nervousness during a closed-door meeting Thursday morning between McCarthy and Republicans. It was marked by a tense exchange between the speaker and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., according to those in the room.
Gaetz has mocked McCarthy for weeks, threatening to remove him from office. He questioned the speaker, saying conservative online influencers were being paid to post negative things about him. Gaetz told reporters as he left the meeting that McCarthy countered that he would not waste his time on such a matter.
McCarthy’s allies ended the meeting outraged by Gaetz’s tactics.
With the majority divided, McCarthy is scrambling to craft a plan to prevent a government shutdown and win Republican support. The speaker told Republicans he would unveil a Republican stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, on Friday while also trying to force some concessions from Senate Democrats, according to attendees.
But as time passed, many Republican lawmakers either didn’t support the interim measure until they had a chance to see it. Others are considering joining Democrats in introducing a bill to prevent a government shutdown without McCarthy’s support.
With McCarthy’s ability to coordinate the session in question, he has little standing to negotiate with Senate Democrats.He also tried to draw the president Joe Biden Negotiations are underway, but so far the White House has not shown interest.
Biden has sought to increase pressure on McCarthy to compromise with Democrats, even though it could threaten his job.
“I think the speaker is making a choice between his position as speaker and the interests of the United States,” Biden said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Congress and the White House have set maximum spending levels for next year a deal this summer This allows the government to continue borrowing to pay its bills. But he said McCarthy had reneged on the deal and sought a government shutdown by pandering to Republicans who believed the deal did not go far enough to cut spending.
“Speaker McCarthy is focusing on the views of a radical minority rather than the majority, making a government shutdown much more likely,” Schumer said.
In an interview with CNBC, McCarthy insisted that the House of Representatives would have a say. “Will I accept and surrender to the Senate’s decision? The answer is no, we are our own bodies.”
But later at the Capitol, he complained publicly about the difficulty he was having persuading Republican lawmakers.
“Members said they only wanted to vote for individual bills, but they stalled me all summer from letting me introduce individual bills. And then they said they weren’t going to vote for a stopgap measure that would keep the government open,” McCarthy told reporters.
“So I don’t know, where do you go in this situation?”
The speaker also suggested he had a backup plan but stopped short of saying he was prepared to work with Democrats to pass some bills in the House.
Meanwhile, the White House and Department of Homeland Security notified staff on Thursday to prepare for the shutdown, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press. Furloughed employees will have four hours Monday to prepare for the office closure.
The White House plans to retain all active-duty officers. Those include chief of staff Jeff Zients, press secretary Karine Jean Pierre, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and others, according to White House emails senior officials and declared them “exceptional” during the shutdown.
Military and federal workers, including law enforcement, air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers, will also be reporting to work because they are critical to protecting life and property. They will not receive wages if the shutdown continues beyond October 13, the next scheduled payday, but they will receive back pay once the shutdown ends.
Social Security payments to seniors, Medicare and Medicaid payments to health care providers, and disability payments to veterans will continue, as much of the government will continue to operate. But some critical services do stop. For example, the U.S. Treasury Department said that as two-thirds of IRS employees may be furloughed, taxpayer calls to the agency will go unanswered and 363 taxpayer assistance centers across the country will close.
Many Republicans expressed concern that they would be blamed for the shutdown — including in the Senate, where many members aligned with Democrats on a stopgap bill.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said he agreed with many of House Republicans’ goals, but warned that a shutdown would not achieve any of them.
“Instead of producing any meaningful policy results, this will take away and hold back important progress on some critical issues,” McConnell said.
Still, Senate Republicans spent much of the day piecing together a plan that could win support for more funding for border security. McCarthy’s House allies also hope the threat of a government shutdown will help conservatives push to limit federal spending and crack down on illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Anytime you have a stopgap situation like this, you have an opportunity to take advantage,” said Rep. Garret Graves, R-Los Angeles. “This is another opportunity. America doesn’t want an open southern border. The polls are clear. It has profound consequences for us.”
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