New risk on the radar
Republicans blocked a vote on defense spending for the third time, raising the risk of a shutdown
Portal September 21, 2023 4:37 p.m. Updated 11 hours ago
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WASHINGTON (Portal) U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s attempt to revive his spending agenda failed on Thursday as Republicans blocked a vote on defense spending for the third time, raising the risk of a government shutdown in just 10 days.
The House voted 216212 against opening debate on an $886 billion defense budget bill, despite stubborn opposition from a small group of conservative Republicans.
That was a setback for McCarthy the morning after his fragile 221212 majority met for two and a half hours to reach consensus on legislation to avert a fourth government shutdown in a decade starting Oct. 1.
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When the vote failed, McCarthy told reporters he would “follow the same strategy I have followed since January: keep working; never give up”.
The shutdown of federal agencies will begin Oct. 1 unless Congress passes a shortterm, continuing resolution, called a CR, or a bill to fund the entire year.
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House Republicans have so far failed to unite behind either option, and the ideas they have considered have only Republican support, making them unlikely to gain support in the Democraticmajority Senate or be put into effect by US President Joe Biden.
“Instead of reducing the likelihood of a shutdown, Speaker McCarthy is actually increasing it by wasting time on extremist proposals that cannot become law in the Senate,” said Senate top Democrat Chuck Schumer.
The bill was scheduled to be voted on in five minutes, but Republicans left the vote open for more than half an hour in hopes of securing additional votes.
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Republican Rep. Keith Self, who voted for the bill, said the motion’s failure showed a lack of confidence in McCarthy’s leadership.
“It’s a question of trust,” Self told reporters, but declined to elaborate. Asked about the mood in the plenary hall, Self said: “Emotions were running high.”
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