House, Senate stand-off raises chances of US government shutdown
- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has rejected a bipartisan stopgap funding bill advancing in the Senate, with just four days left on the clock
- Meanwhile the House, where Republicans have a majority, is trying to agree on more of 12 separate full-year funding bills, of which they have so far passed one
Republican US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday rejected a stopgap funding bill advancing in the Senate, bringing Washington closer to its fourth partial shutdown of the US government in a decade with just four days to go.
That would lead to the furlough of hundreds of thousands of federal workers and the suspension of a wide range of government services, from economic data releases to nutrition benefits, until Congress manages to pass a funding bill that US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, would sign into law.
The Senate plan, which advanced on a wide bipartisan margin on Tuesday, would fund the government through November 17, giving lawmakers more time to agree on funding levels for the full financial year beginning October 1.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said the Senate would hold the next procedural vote on its bill on Thursday, unless senators can reach an agreement that would allow them to vote sooner.
McCarthy’s House of Representatives was focusing its efforts on trying to agree on more of the 12 separate full-year funding bills, of which they have so far passed one.