House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with mere hours left before a federal government shutdown, tried a new tactic Saturday.
McCarthy, the California Republican, will now try to push a 45-day funding bill through the House, but will need votes from Democrats for success.
That alliance could keep government open but puts a continued speakership role for McCarthy again at risk.
Republican lawmakers met behind closed doors Saturday morning. As written now, the proposed House action would fund the government at current 2023 levels for 45 days and provide money for U.S. disaster relief.
“Knowing what transpired through the summer — the disasters in Florida, the horrendous fire in Hawaii and also disasters in California and Vermont — we will put the supplemental portion that the president asks for in disaster there, too,” McCarthy said after the meeting.
The new approach would leave out the Biden administration’s fresh ask for more aid to Ukraine.
“We’re going to do our job,” McCarthy said Saturday. “We’re going to be adults in the room. And we’re going to keep government open.”
An expiring midnight deadline to fund the government puts everything from the Social Security COLA boost to national parks, passport issuance and food aid at risk. Stock markets
SPX,
which have risen during recent short-lived government closures, were mindful that this shutdown could impede the Federal Reserve’s efforts to fight inflation with its interest-rate lever.
What’s more, without a deal in place by Sunday, federal workers will face furloughs and more than 2 million active-duty and reserve military troops will work without pay.
Read: U.S. government shutdown: Here’s how it could affect you, from food aid to getting your passport
Opinion: Government shutdown looms: Here’s how to help preserve your investment portfolio.
The House was preparing for a quick vote Saturday on the plan, but Democrats tapped the brakes, seeking time so they could read the 71-page offering. Across the Capitol, the Senate was opening a rare weekend session and hoping to advance its own stopgap plan.
McCarthy will have to rely on Democrats for passage of the 45-day plan because the House’s hard-right flank has said it will oppose any short-term measure.
McCarthy was setting up a process for voting that will require a two-thirds supermajority, which works out to about 290 votes in the 435-member House for passage. Republicans hold a 221-212 majority, with two vacancies.
The Associated Press contributed.
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