Government shutdown: Senate unveils stopgap bill, setting up clash with House




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Just days before the government runs out of money, the Senate has unveiled a bipartisan stopgap bill to prevent a shutdown — but there’s no guarantee it will pass the House.

The release of the Senate bill, which was negotiated on a bipartisan basis, sets up a stark contrast – and a showdown – with the House, where the Republican majority faces deep divisions and the demands of radical conservatives in driving the agenda. Has been extremely influential. Like a shutdown is looming.

The two chambers are now on a collision course as the House voted Tuesday night to advance a package of appropriations bills that has expired when it reaches the Senate and will not avert a government shutdown.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy rejected the bipartisan Senate stopgap measure, telling reporters Tuesday night to “let me know” when they pass that bill and saying he had spoken to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell earlier in the day. McCarthy said the House will consider a separate stopgap bill with border provisions on Friday, regardless of whether GOP leadership is confident it has the votes to pass it.

McCarthy has little room for maneuver with only a narrow majority. Hard-line conservatives oppose the possibility of a short-term funding extension and many oppose additional aid to Ukraine, two major obstacles to building consensus with the Senate.

The Senate stopgap bill, which would keep the government funded until Nov. 17, includes $6.2 billion for aid to Ukraine and $6 billion for natural disasters.

McCarthy told his leadership team Tuesday night that he plans to amend the Senate stopgap spending bill to include the House GOP border security package, according to multiple sources familiar with immigration on the eve of the shutdown deadline. But there is a massive conflict with the Senate.

McCarthy’s strategy, which Republicans have been talking about all day, is to focus the shutdown fight solely on the border issue.

It’s also likely that House Republicans will strip away the minimal funding for Ukraine that the Senate has included in its stopgap, senior GOP sources said, noting that many hard-liners are opposed to it and they cannot afford multiple defections.

“We will continue to fund the government at current levels while maintaining our commitment to Ukraine’s security and humanitarian needs, while also ensuring that people across the country are protected,” Schumer said Tuesday in outlining the Senate stopgap resolution. People affected by natural disasters should start getting resources.” They need.”

Now that the Senate has unveiled its own stopgap measure, the chamber will still need to pass it before it can be sent to the House and any senator could slow down passage under tight time constraints.

The Senate took initial steps to advance its bipartisan stopgap bill on Tuesday with a procedural vote of 77 to 19.

Lacking GOP votes to pass a stopgap bill, McCarthy earlier in the week turned his attention to an effort to advance a series of spending bills, including those at the Defense and Homeland Security departments.

The bills wouldn’t prevent a weekend shutdown, but as conservatives seek to pass a full-year funding bill, McCarthy is hoping the momentum on the measures could swing enough holdouts to support the Republican stopgap bill. Is.

The House successfully voted Tuesday evening to pass a rule to control debate on those bills. The vote was closely watched after McCarthy lost two procedural rules votes last week, a major embarrassment for the House GOP leadership that underlined the deep divisions among Republicans in the chamber.

McCarthy remained adamant Tuesday that a government shutdown is the worst possible option and warned at his conference about the dangers of that strategy. “I don’t think shutdowns ever help,” he said.

The bandh will have major impacts which will be felt across the country. If this happens, many government functions will come to a halt, while some services deemed “essential” will continue.

Government operations and services that may continue during the shutdown are activities deemed essential to protect public safety and national security or considered critical for other reasons. Examples of services that continued during previous shutdowns include border security, federal law enforcement, and air traffic control.

The White House on Tuesday highlighted the “detrimental effects” of the shutdown that would undermine national security, pointing to the 1.3 million active-duty military members who will not be paid until the shutdown ends and the furlough of civilian Defense Department employees. Will be done.

This story and headline have been updated with additional information.

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