Following two failed votes last week, House Republicans rallied on Tuesday to commence discussions on a suite of spending bills, hoping to muster enough support to prevent a government shutdown by the end of the week.
What Happened: The House Republicans voted to initiate discussions on a bundle of spending bills. The rule was approved by a 216-212 vote, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), being the lone Republican to vote against it, NBC News reported.
Despite the progress, a shutdown on Sunday remains a real threat due to differences between the GOP-led House and the Democratic-led Senate regarding funding levels and Ukraine’s support. However, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), is optimistic that if he can garner support for four partisan appropriations bills this week, it will strengthen the Republicans’ bargaining position with the Democrats and the White House.
“We’re going to work through appropriations bills this week. … We’ll have a process to get through a large chunk of funding, significantly more than the Senate’s been able to get through,” said a top McCarthy ally, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).
“And that should put us in a better negotiating position for what is inevitably going to be the end-of-year negotiations around funding the government.”
Why It Matters: The proposed bills are intended to fund the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Agriculture, as well as the State Department and foreign operations. In compliance with House conservatives’ demands, these bills aim to reduce billions of dollars despite a bipartisan debt and spending agreement earlier this year between McCarthy and President Joe Biden.
Despite opposition from some conservatives in his conference, McCarthy plans to propose a temporary funding bill, known as a continuing resolution, to the floor this week.
This development follows a series of setbacks for the Republicans. Earlier, McCarthy faced two significant defeats when attempts to approve a procedural motion regarding government spending levels failed twice in one week. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md) had earlier warned that the looming shutdown could potentially threaten the political future of key advocates like Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Greene, if they continue to oppose the spending bills.
Meanwhile, The Senate also introduced its own continuing resolution, which does not include steep cuts the House GOP wants and does include roughly $6 billion for Ukraine that many Republicans oppose. “They’re picking Ukraine over Americans,” McCarthy said, calling the bipartisan Senate measure, “wrong.”
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