With just five days to go, there is still no viable plan in Congress to avert a government shutdown and a sense of inevitability has set in as lawmakers brace for federal funding to expire at the end of the week.
Leadership in both chambers wants to pass a short-term funding extension, but a bloc of hardline House conservatives have railed against the prospect of a stopgap bill and ramped up pressure on Speaker Kevin McCarthy to choose between a shutdown or a vote to oust him from his leadership post.
Lacking the GOP votes to pass a stopgap bill, McCarthy is turning attention early in the week toward an effort to advance a series of spending bills, including for the departments of Defense and Homeland Security.
Passing those bills won’t stop a shutdown at the end of the week, but as conservatives demand the passage of full-year funding bills, McCarthy had been hoping that momentum on the measures might swing enough holdouts to support a Republican stopgap bill. However, it is not clear that even those bills can advance amid deep divisions within the House Republican conference.
McCarthy is expected to face yet another test of his leadership on Tuesday as House GOP leadership has indicated that they plan to hold a procedural vote on a rule to advance those measures. The expected vote comes after hardliners tanked a similar procedural vote for a defense bill last week in a major embarrassment for the House GOP leaders. All eyes will be on the House to see if that spectacle repeats itself.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are still in talks over a short-term bill to keep the government open past September 30, though there’s no guarantee any Senate plan will be able to pass the House.
Senate leaders are discussing a proposal that could pass the chamber quickly and not get…
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