Government shutdown looms as McCarthy takes final shot at budget bill

Speaker McCarthy faces a key five-day test to bring his Republican party together and pass a budget bill that will keep the Federal government running for the next fiscal year.

Sep 25, 2023 - 18:30

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Government shutdown looms as McCarthy takes final shot at budget bill

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces an uphill battle to unite his Republican colleagues and pass a spending bill that will avert a federal government shutdown, and possibly save his own job, over the next five days.

Republican lawmakers are set to bring at least four different spending bills to the House floor this week in an effort to create enough unity among its members that a so-called Continuing Resolution, or stop-gap funding bill, can also be passed that would extend the current budget past its September 30 deadline. A total of eleven will be needed in order to avert a shutdown.

With only a narrow nine-seat majority in the House of Representatives, spending bills can be upended by a small minority of lawmakers, forcing Speaker McCarthy to rely on Democratic votes to ensure their passage.

Conservative lawmakers seeking deeper spending cuts and heftier funding for border security, known as the Freedom Caucus and lead by Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, have thus far failed to support either a clean budget bill or a continuing resolution that would allow for more time to negotiate.

Others, including Tennessee's Tim Burchett, have said they will work to remove McCarthy as House Speaker if he looks to Democrats to support either a spending bill or a Continuing Resolution.

Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, is looking to repurpose a House bill, passed to fund the Federal Aviation Administration, into a new Continuing Resolution that could serve as an emergency option for McCarthy -- and avoid a government shutdown -- should he fail to bring his party together over the coming days.

"This is not like the spring debt ceiling situation, where we were always confident that a deal would be reached at the last minute," said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics. "We appreciate that a short shutdown would not be a major macroeconomic event, but an extended failure to agree on spending could do real damage."