Hardline Republican holdouts push U.S. government closer to shutdown
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[September 29, 2023]
By Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. federal government was two days from a
partial shutdown on Friday, as a handful of hardline House Republicans
refused to support a bipartisan stopgap spending bill meant to give
lawmakers more time to negotiate a full-year deal.
The National Park Service will close, the Securities and Exchange
Commission will suspend most of its regulatory activities and hundreds
of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed beginning at 12:01
a.m. ET on Sunday (0401 GMT) if Congress does not pass a spending
package that can be signed into law by President Joe Biden before then.
House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy succeeded in passing
three of four bills late Thursday that would fund four federal agencies.
The bills were written to accommodate hardline conservative demands and
stand no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate, though even
if they became law, they would not avert a partial shutdown because they
do not fund the full government.
Republican hardliners have said they will not take up a Senate bill to
fund the government through Nov. 17, which has advanced with broad
bipartisan support, including that of top Senate Republican Mitch
McConnell.
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The shutdown would be the fourth in a decade and comes just four months
after a similar standoff brought the federal government within days of
defaulting on its $31 trillion -plus in debt. The repeated brinkmanship
has raised worries on Wall Street, where Moody's has warned it could
damage the nation's creditworthiness.
McCarthy and Biden in June agreed to a deal that would have funded the
government with discretionary spending at $1.59 trillion in fiscal 2024,
but House Republican hardliners are demanding another $120 billion in
cuts plus tougher legislation that would stop the flow of immigrants at
the U.S. southern border with Mexico.
The current fight focuses on a relatively small slice of the $6.4
trillion U.S. budget for this fiscal year. Lawmakers are not considering
cuts to popular benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
Several hardliners have threatened to oust McCarthy from his leadership
role if he passes a spending bill that requires any Democratic votes to
pass, an outcome almost guaranteed given that any successful House bill
must also pass the Senate, controlled by Democrats 51-49.
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![](../images/092923PIX/news_l91.jpg)
U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks with reporters as
the deadline to avert a partial government shutdown approaches on
Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Craig
Hudson/ File Photo
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Former President Donald Trump, Biden's likely election opponent in
2024, has taken to social media to push his congressional allies
toward a shutdown.
'FRUSTRATED'
House Republicans expressed annoyance late Thursday with their
hardline colleagues, who have stymied the process at almost every
turn.
"They can't set a fire, call the fire department, turn off their
water supply and then blame them for not putting out the fire,"
Representative Dan Crenshaw told Reuters. "That's kind of what's
happening right now."
Representative Mike Garcia, a member of the House Appropriations
Committee, described himself as "frustrated."
"We don't have a good position going into what would be a
negotiation with the Senate," he told Reuters.
Representative Richard Neal, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways
and Means Committee, described the appropriations process as "the
worst in the 35 years I've been here."
Moderate Republicans are pushing for a vote on their own short-term
spending measure, which would also most likely not pass the Senate
if it includes the expected harsh border measures that Democrats do
not support.
"We are in a mess," Representative Marc Molinaro, a moderate
Republican, said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to the
situation at the border. "In a bipartisan government, our solution
must be bipartisan."
A shutdown will also delay vital economic data releases, which could
trigger financial market volatility, and delay the date that
retirees learn how much their Social Security payments will rise
next year. Social Security payments themselves would continue.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton; Editing by Scott Malone)
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