- McCarthy’s last-ditch plan to keep the government open collapses, making a shutdown almost certain.
- A robust faction of hard-right holdouts rejected the package, making a shutdown almost certain.
- McCarthy’s right-flank Republicans refused to support the bill despite its steep spending cuts of nearly 30% to many agencies and severe border security provisions, calling it insufficient.
- The White House and Democrats rejected the Republican approach as too extreme. The vote was 198-232.
- With 21 hard-right Republicans voting to sink the package, The Democrats voted against it.
- A shutdown will furlough federal workers, keep the military working without pay and disrupt programmes and services for millions of Americans.
- Congress has been unable to fund the agencies or pass a temporary bill to keep offices open.
McCarthy’s right-flank Republicans refused to support the bill despite its steep spending cuts of nearly 30 per cent to many agencies and severe border security provisions, calling it insufficient. The White House and Democrats rejected the Republican approach as too extreme.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s last-ditch plan to keep the federal government temporarily open collapsed on Friday as hard-right holdouts rejected the package, making a shutdown almost certain.
McCarthy’s right-flank Republicans refused to support the bill despite its steep spending cuts of nearly 30 per cent to many agencies and severe border security provisions, calling it insufficient. The White House and Democrats rejected the Republican approach as too extreme.
The bill’s failure a day before Saturday’s deadline to fund the government leaves few options left to prevent a shutdown that will furlough federal workers, keep the military working without pay and disrupt programmes and services for millions of Americans.
The outcome puts McCarthy’s speakership in serious jeopardy with almost no political leverage to lead the House at a critical moment that has pushed the government into crisis. Ahead of voting, the Republican speaker all but dared his hold-out colleagues to oppose the package a day before Saturday’s almost certain shutdown.
Matt Gaetz of Florida, announced he would be voting against the package, calling its border security provisions insufficient and urging his colleagues to “not surrender.” The federal government is heading straight into a shutdown after midnight Saturday that would leave 2 million military troops without pay, furlough federal works and disrupt government services and programmes that Americans rely on from coast to coast.
Congress has been unable to fund the agencies or pass a temporary bill to keep offices open.
While the Senate is pushing ahead Friday with its own widely bipartisan plan favoured by Republicans and Democrats to keep the government open and to bolster Ukraine aid and US disaster accounts, the House has been in political chaos as the hard-right flank seized control.
The White House has declined McCarthy’s overtures to meet with President Joe Biden after the speaker walked away from the debt deal they brokered earlier this year that set budget levels.
The package would not cut the Defence, Veterans or Homeland Security departments but would have slashed almost all other agencies by up to 30 percent steep hits to a vast array of programmes, services and departments Americans routinely depend on.
It also added strict new border security provisions that would kickstart building the wall at the southern border with Mexico, among other measures. Additionally, the package would set up a bipartisan debt commission to address the nation’s mounting debt load.
The hard right, led by Gaetz, has been threatening McCarthy’s ouster, with a looming vote to try to remove him from the speaker’s office unless he meets the conservative demands. Still, it’s unclear if any other Republican would have support from the House majority to lead the party.
(With Inputs from agencies)
