The House on Saturday approved a “clean” stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown, sending the legislation to the Senate for consideration hours before the midnight funding deadline.
The measure would keep the government funded at current spending levels for 45 days and it includes $16 billion in disaster relief — matching the figure the White House included in a supplemental request. It does not include Ukraine aid or border policy changes.
The chamber cleared the stopgap bill in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 335-91 vote hours after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) rolled out the proposal. One Democrat and 90 Republicans voted against the measure.
The plan marked a stark shift in his posture when it comes to government funding. And it could spell trouble for his Speakership as conservatives heighten their threats to confiscate his gavel.
At the same time, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Senate Republicans would not allow the upper chamber’s bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) to advance, deferring to the House plan.
That proposal would keep the government funded through Nov. 17 and it includes $5.99 billion in disaster relief and $6.15 billion in Ukraine aid.
McCarthy told members of his conference earlier this week that he would not bring the Senate measure to the floor for a vote after a number of conservatives voiced concern with the inclusion of Ukraine funding and the lack of border security provisions. Support for Ukraine has become a hot-button issue in the House GOP conference.
McCarthy bringing a clean stopgap bill to the floor was a departure from his previous stance on government funding.
The Speaker in recent weeks had been pushing his conference to coalesce around a GOP-crafted stopgap bill that includes border security, a move that was designed to give Republicans greater leverage in negotiations with Senate Democrats and the White House. He had brushed aside the possibility of working with Democrats to avert a shutdown, underscoring the importance of getting border security provisions in any funding measure.
But on Friday, a band of 21 conservatives voted down that GOP stopgap bill, leaving McCarthy with few options to avert a shutdown ahead of the looming deadline. Hours after the failed vote, the Speaker floated a “clean” stopgap bill without Ukraine, following through with that idea Saturday morning.
While the Saturday vote brings the country one step closer to averting a shutdown, it also puts McCarthy at a greater threat of losing his gavel. Hard-line Republicans for weeks had been publicly warning that the Speaker could face a vote on his ouster if he worked with Democrats to fund the government.
“If Kevin McCarthy puts a continuing resolution on the floor, it’s going to be shot, chaser; continuing resolution, motion to vacate,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), one of McCarthy’s foremost adversaries, said earlier this month.
McCarthy, for his part, brushed aside those threats on Saturday.
“If someone wants to remove because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try,” he told reporters.
“But I think this country is too important. And I will stand with our military. I’ll stand with our border agents. I’ll stand with those that have to get their medicine from government as well,” McCarthy added. “I think that’s too important.”
Who else expects Democrats to save him from a motion to vacate?
They’ll save him until the actual budget passes so they can hold him to the commitments from the debt ceiling deal.
Can Democrats actually hold him to anything, though?
They’ll save him, he’ll say “lol thanks suckers” and then what? It’s not like Democrats would let him be voted out anyway.
If he ever renegs they can go to Gaetz and tell him they’ll support his removal now and McCarthy is gone.
If there’s something he can get done without Democratic support, he could just do that now, so we know he doesn’t have anything he can do without Democrats. So they have leverage to make him do the deal he made, while admitting he needs to get at least half of Republicans on side too per the Hastert Rule (not a real rule but a convention) so it’s not like they can make him do ANYTHING. Plenty of Republicans signed up for the deal as already agreed though.
I’m pessimistic in Democrats ever actually supporting his removal.
Won’t have to if the Dems take the House back next year.
Sure, but I think they’ll try to keep him Speaker until after the elections.
McCarthy needed Dems. He’s gone.
I’m under the impression he only needs a few Republicans to vote with Dems to keep him.
Since he got Republicans to vote for this bill, I think he can do it.
Why would Dems vote for McCarthy?
He got a continuing resolution passed, didn’t he?
I’m almost certain they’ll rescue him.
The democratic caucus will vote for Hakeem Jeffries and let the majority sort out their own business.
From what I know he only needs 20 or 30 dems to vote “present” which will lower the bar enough to the point where he will get to keep his job. My guess is that this is the best option for Democrats since they’ve proven that he’s an incredibly ineffective Majority leader.
I guess, though I’d prefer they let him fail and then watch as Republicans fail to elect a replacement.
The House needs a speaker, though. If the Speaker’s chair is vacant, the only thing they can do is select a new Speaker. Democrats could stand on the sidelines and simply watch for a little while, but at some point they would have to act if Republicans are squabbling too much to agree on their own.
They’re propping up an ineffective leader. As long as he’s in charge, the Republicans can’t seem to agree on much or get much done. He’s the perfect stooge.
Without him they’d have no leader and still wouldn’t get anything done, which seems preferable.