After being mired in a weeks-long spending battle that seemed inexorably headed for a government shutdown, Congress moved at the 11th hour to pass a 45-day reprieve – demonstrating that a bipartisan majority can still command the power to push back against noisy obstructionists.
Embattled GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy stunned his detractors Saturday by passing the short-term funding measure with votes from a majority of House Republicans, along with nearly all Democrats. The measure includes $16 billion in disaster aid, though not border security provisions or Ukraine aid. That caused Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet – the son of a Polish Jew born just before World War II – to hold up the bill in the Senate until nearly 9 p.m. It passed by 88-9 with three hours to go before the midnight deadline.
The move gives Congress more time to try to approve a new budget. But as much as the deal brought a collective sigh of relief on Capitol Hill, it does little to resolve the underlying issues that caused the standoff in the House between GOP leadership and renegade conservatives over spending cuts and budget priorities. It also brought to the surface greater dissension over Ukraine aid, once a solidly bipartisan issue.
Why We Wrote This
Despite its reputation for dysfunction, Congress showed that a bipartisan majority could still come together to push past obstructionists – potentially opening the door to more cooperation.
Still, the ability of Democrats and Republicans to come together to avert a shutdown counteracts at least somewhat the prevailing view that Congress is hopelessly gridlocked. It also suggests that Speaker McCarthy may be a better strategist than assumed. That could signal an opportunity for more bipartisan cooperation ahead, though he’s now indebted to Democrats and may still face significant blowback from the party’s right flank.
“As a radical pragmatist, I was thrilled to see a bipartisan solution prevent a shutdown that would have been painful for millions of Americans,” says Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, a member of the House Problem Solvers Caucus. “I hope the same spirit leads us to resolution before the 45-day extension ends.”
Giving the budget process more time
Congress is supposed to develop a budget through 12 parallel appropriation bills in the House and Senate, but often ends up running out of time and cramming the whole budget into a big “omnibus.” Most lawmakers have little time to read it and virtually no opportunity to weigh in.
House Republicans, pushed by conservatives insistent on completing the full appropriations process this year, have passed four of their 12 bills – which Speaker McCarthy says cover more than 70% of discretionary spending. On the Senate side, where Democratic chair Patty Murray of Washington and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine have won plaudits for their methodical work on the Appropriations committee, some expressed optimism that the latest turn of events would give the process renewed momentum.
“I believe we have a real good chance that we’re not going to have an omnibus,” says Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, a self-made GOP businessman who has been in the Senate for five years. “I’m optimistic, actually.”
Others, however, expressed skepticism that anything would be different going forward.
“The whole system is broken – and it has been for 20 years,” says Republican Mike Braun of Indiana, one of the nine dissenters in the Senate. He told reporters he had never voted for a continuing resolution, or CR, as this type of stopgap measure is known.
“You have no budgeting. You have no discipline here,” he says, adding that the average annual deficit has increased from $1 trillion to $2 trillion since he entered the Senate. “We … are borrowing 30 cents of every dollar we spend here.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, accompanied by Republican senators, speaks to reporters about the need to prevent a federal government shutdown, Sept. 30, 2023, in Washington.
Though a small part of the overall U.S. budget, aid to Ukraine has become a key sticking point. Many Republicans are increasingly unwilling to send more aid at a time of record U.S. national debt and so many pressing issues at home. In particular, they want to prioritize securing the southwestern border, which millions of migrants have streamed over since President Joe Biden took office, overwhelming border cities and straining resources in distant urban areas like New York.
Other Republicans as well as most Democrats say it’s essential for America to show leadership in pushing back against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I know how important moments are like this for the United States to lead the rest of the world,” says Senator Bennet, noting that his relatives were among 16 million killed in Poland and Ukraine by Nazis and Soviet leader Josef Stalin. “There’s nobody else to lead this.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat on the Foreign Relations and Appropriations committees, says he’s confident the Senate will approve supplemental Ukraine aid in the next 45 days.
“It’s easier to support Ukraine with the US government open than with it shut,” he says.
McCarthy’s high wire act
For Speaker McCarthy, it was a rare moment of vindication. After weeks of high-stakes negotiating with right-wing holdouts, many saw him as unable to instill party discipline.
His willingness to give those rebels some room to run – and vent – may have worked in his favor. The votes he brought to the floor, only to be repeatedly torpedoed by a handful of members, may have served to isolate the dissenters from the rest of the party. While 90 House Republicans voted against the temporary spending measure on Saturday, Mr. McCarthy can say the bill passed with support from “a majority of the majority.” That may strengthen his hand against any future attempt to oust him through a maneuver known as a “motion to vacate.”
“If somebody wants a motion against me, bring it,” said a triumphant Speaker McCarthy after the House vote passed 335-91. “I am going to govern with what is best for this country.”
In a statement, President Biden applauded the “bipartisan majorities” of Congress who had prevented “an unnecessary crisis that would have inflicted needless pain on millions of hardworking Americans.”
But the president also called out Mr. McCarthy and House Republicans for bringing the government to the brink of a shutdown in the first place, by trying to “walk away” from the deal he and the speaker had negotiated back in June, during the debt ceiling crisis.
GOP rebels, including some within the right-wing Freedom Caucus, say the speaker went back on the promises he made in January to secure their support. Still, one of the more vocal members of that bloc, Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, declined to say whether he would support a motion to remove Mr. McCarthy, telling reporters, “we’ll see.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the vote tally in the House.
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