Washington — The House is voting on a measure backed by Speaker Kevin McCarthy that would keep the government open for another month at reduced spending levels, despite continued opposition from some hard-right Republicans who could hand McCarthy yet another defeat in his efforts to avoid a government shutdown.
Even if it passes the House, the 165-page bill would not be taken up by the Senate, which is working on its own bipartisan legislation to keep the government running beyond Saturday night, when funding expires. President Biden promised to veto the House bill on Friday, further sealing its fate.
Known as a continuing resolution, the House’s stopgap bill would fund the government through the end of October, while the Senate’s version would keep operations going through Nov. 17. The House version includes spending cuts and a border security measure, while the Senate bill funds the government at current levels and includes aid for Ukraine.
The House voted to approve a rule allowing debate on the measure by a vote of 218 to 210 earlier Friday, but at least one Republican who voted in favor — Matt Gaetz of Florida — said he still intended to vote against the bill itself.
Nearly a dozen far-right Republicans said they wouldn’t support or were unlikely to support any continuing resolution. With just a four-seat majority in the House, McCarthy has struggled to craft a bill that would avoid a shutdown and attract majority support in both chambers. House Democrats oppose any spending cuts and have been united in opposition to his proposals so far.
Lawmakers have until 12 a.m on Sunday to come to an agreement to avoid a shutdown, which would force millions of federal employees to go on furlough or continue working without getting paid until the funding lapse ends.
Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus sent a letter to McCarthy on Thursday demanding that he publicly reject the Senate bill. They also wanted McCarthy to keep the House in session until all 12 individual appropriations bills are passed and detail his plan for getting them over the finish line.
“No Member of Congress can or should be expected to consider supporting a stop-gap funding measure without answers to these reasonable questions,” the letter said.
House Republicans passed three bills to fund the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State for another year on Thursday night, but none of these have a chance of passing in the Senate.
Jacqueline Kalil, Ellis Kim and Scott MacFarlane contributed reporting.
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