Government Shutdown Imminent As House Can’t Pass Short-Term Government Funding Bill

Topline

The House voted down a short-term government funding bill Friday, amid Republican infighting that threatens to trigger a government shutdown in less than two days without a full-year spending plan in place.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on September 29.

CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Key Facts

The House voted 198-232 against the stopgap measure, with 21 Republicans making good on their promises to join all Democrats in rejecting the plan that would have kept the government open for 30 days to give lawmakers time to work out a full-year deal.

The legislation would have been doomed in the Democratic-controlled Senate, which also has yet to pass a fiscal year 2024 spending plan and is expected to vote on its own short-term funding bill Saturday that House Republicans have vowed to kill.

The expiration of the budget, at the end of the 2023 fiscal year at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, would prompt furloughs of hundreds of thousands of government workers and a pause in some government services, including food and water safety inspections, along with the closure of most national parks.

Crucial Quote

“It’s not the end yet. I’ve got other ideas,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters following Friday’s vote.

What To Watch For

Some Republicans acknowledged a government shutdown was imminent after the bill failed, according to Bloomberg, which reported those lawmakers are saying the next, most pressing deadline is October 13, when U.S. military members are scheduled to receive their next paycheck.

Chief Critic

Some Republicans blasted their GOP colleagues who opposed the bill. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) placed the blame squarely on Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a leading voice among the far-right GOP opposition. “He’s not a conservative. He’s a charlatan,” Lawler told the New York Times. Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) also voted against the bill.

Contra

Lawler and some of his Republican House colleagues from New York say they would join a last-ditch effort being drafted by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus to force a vote on another stopgap measure without McCarthy’s approval before Sunday’s deadline. “There are more than enough people who are going to move forward to pass a [continuing resolution] when given the opportunity over the next day or two,” he said, predicting “there’s going to be a [continuing resolution] that gets passed.” It’s unclear how the bipartisan coalition could advance the legislation without backing from McCarthy, who determines what legislation reaches the floor, though several Republicans have floated the possibility of bringing what’s known as a “discharge petition” to circumvent McCarthy’s approval.

Key Background

The bill’s failure marks a blow for McCarthy, who was unable to corral enough votes to stave off a shutdown and angered the hard-right detractors by refusing their demand to hold separate votes on all 12 appropriations bills that make up the annual spending legislation. The budget marks McCarthy’s latest battle with the far-right under the GOP’s slim 222-213 majority in the House that requires all but four Republicans to vote in favor of any legislation in order for it to pass without support from some Democrats. Democrats, meanwhile, unanimously rejected the legislation, largely over its inclusion of an anti-immigration bill that would reimplement Trump-era border policies.