Just four days out from a government shutdown, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has declared a bipartisan Senate stopgap measure dead on arrival.
Senators, having apparently lost faith in McCarthy’s ability to stave off a shutdown, negotiated a bill late Tuesday night that funds the government until Nov. 17 and includes $12 billion in aid and disaster relief for Ukraine. It’s expected to be voted on by the end of the week before being sent over to the House, and is intended to buy lawmakers more time to hash out a longer-term deal, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said.
But, according to Punchbowl News, McCarthy said in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday morning that he wouldn’t take up a bill that includes Ukraine funding but no border security measures. “I don’t see the support in the House,” he reportedly said.
Aid for Ukraine has been one of several sticking points for ultraconservative hardliners in the House who have repeatedly sabotaged McCarthy’s efforts to get spending bills passed.
This Congress has the insane rule that a single person can force a vote of no confidence in the speaker. McCarthy fought hard against this rule being included (first vote of a new Congress is agreeing to rules. He wanted to be speaker without this rule, but didn’t have enough of a margin to win without the hardliners). He knew, going in to this Congress, that one crazy person has insane leverage over him.
So, if he tries to work with a moderate group, his speakership is immediately threatened. This is why it took so long to elect him as speaker. He knew the position it would put him in and tried every single angle he could to prevent the single motion of no confidence rule.
Not McCarthy’s fault directly, but he’s been set up to be one of the least powerful, least effective speakers ever.
The GOP is just lunatics all the way down.