Key events
McCarthy says hard-right Republicans ‘want to burn whole place down’
Leaving the floor after the House failed to approve House Republicans’ defense spending bill, Speaker Kevin McCarthy said:
I don’t understand why anybody votes against bringing the idea and having the debate. This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down. That doesn’t work.
“This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down.”
— After House Republicans once again failed to pass a basic procedural rule to fund the Pentagon, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) hits some members of his own conference pic.twitter.com/Qt4AR71jP3
— The Recount (@therecount) September 21, 2023
The Democratic House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, chastised his GOP colleagues over their internal divisions after a proposal to take up House Republicans’ defense spending bill failed, accusing them of jeopardizing Americans’ wellbeing for the sake of a political stunt.
“House Republicans continue to be held captive by the most extreme element of their conference, and it’s hurting the American people,” Jeffries said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
Why are the American people facing down another manufactured GOP crisis? They need to end their civil war.
“House Republicans continue to be in the midst of a civil war…that is hurting the ability of the Congress to do the business of the American people.”
— Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, after House GOP failed to pass a procedural vote to allow a vote on a Pentagon funding bill pic.twitter.com/2E6XLVX2C6
— The Recount (@therecount) September 21, 2023
Joan E Greve
There are several unknowns still hanging over House speaker Kevin McCarthy’s effort, which, as the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, has pointed out, could be politically damaging to the party.
The first is whether hard-right members of the House Freedom caucus – who have capitalized on McCarthy’s narrow majority – will eventually abandon their blockade as the shutdown deadline approaches.
The second is if whatever bill Republicans do pass will include the Ukraine aid and disaster relief funding the Democratic-led Senate is demanding. Without Senate agreement, any measure cannot be enacted.
Chaos on Capitol Hill as White House warns to prepare for shutdown
Good morning, US politics blog readers. The House wrapped up its work on Thursday after failing to advance a stopgap government spending bill, as members continued to clash with just days left to avert a federal shutdown. Kevin McCarthy, who had projected optimism at the start of the day, now faces a reality where his speakership hangs by a thread.
The White House will tell federal agencies on Friday to prepare for a shutdown, AP reported, citing a government official. If the House and the Senate do not pass a spending bill before 1 October, the lapse in funding will likely force hundreds of thousands of federal workers to go without pay and bring a halt to crucial government services.
McCarthy was dealt his second humiliating defeat of the week, after a proposal to take up House Republicans’ defense spending bill failed in a vote of 216 to 212, after five hard-right members – Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Eli Crane of Arizona, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Matt Rosendale of Montana – joined Democrats in opposing the motion. The Thursday vote marked the second time this week that the motion had failed, after members of the House Freedom caucus first blocked the bill on Tuesday.
Given that the defense spending bill is usually one of the least contentious spending measures in the House, the second failed vote spelled major trouble for the spending talks. Leaving the floor on Thursday, McCarthy voiced exasperation with his critics within the Republican conference.
“I don’t understand why anybody votes against bringing the idea and having the debate,” McCarthy told reporters.
This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down. That doesn’t work.
Donald Trump, the clear frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, has complicated matters from the sidelines, urging Republicans to use government funding as leverage for his own personal gains.
Emphasizing the serious threat posed by a shutdown, the White House implored Republicans to “stop playing political games with people’s lives”. “Extreme House Republicans showed yet again that their chaos is marching us toward a reckless and damaging government shutdown,” the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said Thursday.
Here’s what else we’re watching today:
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1.30pm Eastern time: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters alongside Georgia congresswoman and senior presidential adviser, Lucy McBath.
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2:45pm: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will deliver remarks on gun safety in the Rose Garden in the White House.
