Facing a potential government shutdown in four days triggered by House Republicans’ inability to unite to pass spending bills, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is trying out a new strategy: shifting the blame.
While there’s no reliable polling yet on which party voters would blame more for a government shutdown, many Republicans privately worry it will be theirs.
McCarthy is starting to point fingers at Democrats in a bid to pin a shutdown on disagreements over border security. It’s an attempt to rewrite the record of the past several weeks, during which House Republicans have been unable to pass a short-term bill to prevent a shutdown — even one that includes the border security policies his conference overwhelmingly supports.
McCarthy spoke with reporters four times on Tuesday. He repeated similar talking points each time, criticizing President Biden’s handling of the border and the steady stream of undocumented immigrants who cross it.
McCarthy gives updates on budget negotiations
1:09
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) updated reporters late on Sept. 26 about the progress of government funding negotiations. (Video: The Washington Post)
Asked by Lisa Desjardins of PBS NewsHour whether there will be a shutdown, McCarthy responded, “I don’t know. Ask President Biden.”
Of course, Biden has played no role in bringing Congress to the brink of a shutdown.
In fact, McCarthy has sidelined Democrats and refused to take up a bipartisan stopgap funding bill because he’s afraid hard-right Republicans will try to oust him from the speakership. Many of those same Republican hard-liners have blocked McCarthy from passing a continuing resolution (CR) to prevent a shutdown with Republican votes, too.
Republicans hope to blame the shutdown on the Biden administration’s record on the border.
“The president can keep government open by getting something on the border,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), a member of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus who supports passing a CR with Republican votes, appeared to adopt McCarthy’s messaging.
“They would rather preen and posture about [a] shutdown than to shut down an open border that is killing Americans and killing migrants,” he told reporters shortly before saying something similar on the House floor.
But other hard-liners have continued to blame McCarthy rather than Biden.
“At the end of the day, leadership procrastinated and created a mess,” Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.) told reporters. “Now we’ve got to find our way through it. And if that means staying [in Washington] a couple of extra weeks with a shutdown, that’s fine.”
The Biden administration asked for $4 billion for border security in supplemental funding, but the bipartisan continuing resolution negotiated between Senate leadership and Senate appropriations leaders included no additional money or policy changes for the border. (Perhaps leaving it out will allow McCarthy to insert it when the House gets the CR and declare a win.)
If the government shuts down, border security operations will be hampered. Border agents will go without pay.
Biden asked Congress last month for $20.6 billion in supplemental appropriations for Ukraine to fund its war against Russia.
The Senate included $6 billion in aid for Ukraine — a priority for Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and most senators — in the CR it unveiled on Tuesday. A key procedural vote on the measure won the support of 77 senators — more than three-quarters of the chamber. (Read more about it here.)
McCarthy, who has vacillated on Ukraine aid in recent months, has signaled he won’t accept it.
“I don’t quite understand, when you have all these people across the country talking about the challenges happening in America today, that people would go and say, ‘Oh, we need to do Ukraine and ignore what’s happening along our border,’” McCarthy said.
But McCarthy has been unable to bring two different CRs to the floor that included Republican-backed border security measures and did not include Ukraine aid because some Republican hard-liners refused to support them.
McCarthy told a largely friendly group of allies his goal is to pass a short-term funding bill by Friday.
It’s expected to be similar to a bill negotiated by several members of the Republican Main Street Caucus — which wants to avoid a shutdown — and three members of the hard-right Freedom Caucus. That CR included deep spending cuts and border security measures, but a group of 20 or so hard-liners tanked it.
This time, it would also include a debt commission, according to sources familiar with the plans, Marianna reports.
Another option is to take up the CR that the Senate passes, strip out Ukraine funding and other provisions and tack on border security.
Even some lawmakers who’ve encouraged compromise with Democrats say they’d like to include border measures in a CR.
“I’d prefer having some border security like we have in our bipartisan bill,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a moderate who represents a district Biden carried in 2020, referring to a proposal from the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.
Several Republican hard-liners continue to say there’s no way they’ll back any CR, no matter what’s in it.
“I’ve been very consistent about opposing a CR,” Rep. Matthew M. Rosendale (R-Mont.) told reporters Tuesday evening. “It’s not the way to fund government. It simply extends [former speaker] Nancy Pelosi’s spending and Joe Biden’s policies. I voted against them for two years, so I’m not going to begin voting for them right now.”
While there’s no reliable polling yet on which party voters would blame more for a government shutdown, many Republicans privately worry it will be theirs.
McCarthy is starting to point fingers at Democrats in a bid to pin a shutdown on disagreements over border security. It’s an attempt to rewrite the record of the past several weeks, during which House Republicans have been unable to pass a short-term bill to prevent a shutdown — even one that includes the border security policies his conference overwhelmingly supports.
McCarthy spoke with reporters four times on Tuesday. He repeated similar talking points each time, criticizing President Biden’s handling of the border and the steady stream of undocumented immigrants who cross it.
McCarthy gives updates on budget negotiations
1:09
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) updated reporters late on Sept. 26 about the progress of government funding negotiations. (Video: The Washington Post)
Asked by Lisa Desjardins of PBS NewsHour whether there will be a shutdown, McCarthy responded, “I don’t know. Ask President Biden.”
Of course, Biden has played no role in bringing Congress to the brink of a shutdown.
In fact, McCarthy has sidelined Democrats and refused to take up a bipartisan stopgap funding bill because he’s afraid hard-right Republicans will try to oust him from the speakership. Many of those same Republican hard-liners have blocked McCarthy from passing a continuing resolution (CR) to prevent a shutdown with Republican votes, too.
McCarthy’s new message
Still, McCarthy told a group of informal advisers in a meeting Tuesday evening to ramp up their messaging on border security, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting, our colleague Marianna Sotomayor reports.Republicans hope to blame the shutdown on the Biden administration’s record on the border.
“The president can keep government open by getting something on the border,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), a member of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus who supports passing a CR with Republican votes, appeared to adopt McCarthy’s messaging.
“They would rather preen and posture about [a] shutdown than to shut down an open border that is killing Americans and killing migrants,” he told reporters shortly before saying something similar on the House floor.
But other hard-liners have continued to blame McCarthy rather than Biden.
“At the end of the day, leadership procrastinated and created a mess,” Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.) told reporters. “Now we’ve got to find our way through it. And if that means staying [in Washington] a couple of extra weeks with a shutdown, that’s fine.”
The Biden administration asked for $4 billion for border security in supplemental funding, but the bipartisan continuing resolution negotiated between Senate leadership and Senate appropriations leaders included no additional money or policy changes for the border. (Perhaps leaving it out will allow McCarthy to insert it when the House gets the CR and declare a win.)
If the government shuts down, border security operations will be hampered. Border agents will go without pay.
The other CR obstacle
There is a big reason the government is likely to shut down on Sunday: an impasse over funding for Ukraine.Biden asked Congress last month for $20.6 billion in supplemental appropriations for Ukraine to fund its war against Russia.
The Senate included $6 billion in aid for Ukraine — a priority for Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and most senators — in the CR it unveiled on Tuesday. A key procedural vote on the measure won the support of 77 senators — more than three-quarters of the chamber. (Read more about it here.)
McCarthy, who has vacillated on Ukraine aid in recent months, has signaled he won’t accept it.
“I don’t quite understand, when you have all these people across the country talking about the challenges happening in America today, that people would go and say, ‘Oh, we need to do Ukraine and ignore what’s happening along our border,’” McCarthy said.
But McCarthy has been unable to bring two different CRs to the floor that included Republican-backed border security measures and did not include Ukraine aid because some Republican hard-liners refused to support them.
McCarthy’s plan
McCarthy says he will bring his own CR to the floor before the end of the week.McCarthy told a largely friendly group of allies his goal is to pass a short-term funding bill by Friday.
It’s expected to be similar to a bill negotiated by several members of the Republican Main Street Caucus — which wants to avoid a shutdown — and three members of the hard-right Freedom Caucus. That CR included deep spending cuts and border security measures, but a group of 20 or so hard-liners tanked it.
This time, it would also include a debt commission, according to sources familiar with the plans, Marianna reports.
Another option is to take up the CR that the Senate passes, strip out Ukraine funding and other provisions and tack on border security.
Even some lawmakers who’ve encouraged compromise with Democrats say they’d like to include border measures in a CR.
“I’d prefer having some border security like we have in our bipartisan bill,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a moderate who represents a district Biden carried in 2020, referring to a proposal from the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.
Several Republican hard-liners continue to say there’s no way they’ll back any CR, no matter what’s in it.
“I’ve been very consistent about opposing a CR,” Rep. Matthew M. Rosendale (R-Mont.) told reporters Tuesday evening. “It’s not the way to fund government. It simply extends [former speaker] Nancy Pelosi’s spending and Joe Biden’s policies. I voted against them for two years, so I’m not going to begin voting for them right now.”
