House GOP Rebels Vote Down McCarthy’s Stopgap Spending Bill, Raising Odds of Government Shutdown

A group of House Republican rebels voted down Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s short-term spending bill Friday, raising the odds that the federal government will shutdown in less than 48 hours.

The bill was rejected 198-232, with 21 conservative holdouts led by Representative Matt Gaetz breaking from their party to vote against it. McCarthy spearheaded the measure, which would have temporarily funded the government for 30 days through October 31, as a way to stave off a shutdown while Republicans worked to pass other appropriations bills. The stopgap bill included many spending cuts.

“We actually need a stop-gap measure to allow the House to continue to finish its work, to make sure our military gets paid, to make sure our border agents get paid as we finish the job that we’re supposed to do,” McCarthy told reporters.

Another short-term funding bill advanced in the Senate on Thursday by a 76-22 margin, with another vote scheduled for Saturday.

If Congress does not enact and President Biden does not sign a funding bill, the government is set to close at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday.

McCarthy had been trying to mobilize GOP support for the stopgap bill, warning that a shutdown would be politically disadvantageous for the party. The GOP leader had to pull a procedural vote on the measure over a week ago because of dissent within the Republican conference.

“I think the failure to move something this afternoon clearly puts the advantage back on the Senate bill,” GOP Representative Steve Womack said of the Senate’s version earlier on Friday.

The White House supports the Senate stopgap bill that continues funding at current levels until November 17. The bill also would send $6 billion more in aid to Ukraine and allocate $6 billion to disaster relief.

“The path forward to fund the government has been laid out by the Senate with bipartisan support—House Republicans just need to take it,” White House press secretary Jean-Pierre said.

Earlier this month, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said that shutdowns are “a loser for Republicans, politically.”