After impeachment move, McCarthy struggles to avert US government shutdown
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A day after opening an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday faced a new test of whether his slim Republican majority can enact its own spending legislation and avoid a looming government shutdown.
Less than two hours before the House was due to hold an afternoon vote on whether to open debate on an $886 billion defense appropriations bill, Republican leaders were forced to postpone it in the face of opposition from hardline conservatives.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus and other conservatives have vowed not to support spending measures until McCarthy agrees to limit fiscal 2024 spending to a 2022 level of $1.47 trillion, $120 billion below the level he agreed to with Biden in May.
«We're working through it,» McCarthy told reporters after the expected procedural vote on defense appropriations disappeared from the House's legislative schedule.
Asked if he had discussed a top-line number with the hardliners, McCarthy said, «I have spent more than two months with them on it.»
House Republicans need to agree on a full slate of 12 spending bills to fund the government in fiscal 2024, which begins on Oct. 1, and begin negotiating with the Democratic-led Senate on compromise legislation that Biden can sign into law.
«We're in a difficult spot. We got a big challenge ahead of us,» said Representative Steve Womack, an appropriator who expressed concern that a defense spending vote could fail.
With a 222-212 majority, McCarthy cannot afford to lose more than four Republican votes on legislation opposed by the Democrats. On Wednesday, that margin of error was expected to be even slimmer because of two absences
Read more on investing.com
