Conference fails to approve procedural motion to take up defense spending bill as government shutdown looms
The House Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, was dealt his second humiliating defeat of the week on Thursday, when his conference again failed to approve a procedural motion as members continued to clash over government spending levels with just days left to avert a federal shutdown.
With no clear path forward in Republicans’ negotiations, the House concluded its work on Thursday without any stated plan to reconvene on Friday.
“Discussions related to [fiscal year 2024] appropriations are ongoing,” Congressman Tom Emmer, the House Republican whip, said in a statement. “Members are advised that ample notice will be given ahead of any potential votes tomorrow or this weekend.”
McCarthy: “hard-right Republicans want to burn the whole place down!”
Moderate Democrats: “so you’ll work with us instead, to pass legislation that keeps the lights on, and addresses some of the problems we both agree exist?”
McCarthy: “No. Fuck you. Die in a fire.”
Exactly. The path forward is clear. Work with moderate Democrats to craft a bipartisan spending bill that most Democrats and Republicans can agree upon. Well either side get everything it wants? No, but that’s how compromise works.
Of course the Freedom Caucus will be angry, but let’s face it - they’re always angry. (Hulk Smash makes for a good movie, but not for good politics.) If McCarthy works with Democrats and the saner Republicans, though, the power of the Freedom Caucus will be blunted. They can file to remove McCarthy all they like, but part of the deal with the Democrats could be that they’ll vote to keep McCarthy.
Instead, McCarthy will complain while hoping that the Freedom Caucus members suddenly become reasonable.
In an insane world it’s the sane that seem insane. This is the most logical solution to all of McCarthy’s problems but it will seem so crazy to him that he won’t go for it. Battle seat Republicans are already talking about working with Democrats to solve this problem. All of this use to be a nonissue because surprise surprise people in a long far away time once voted over party lines to get shit done, just as you said.
That was before the Republican Party adopted “owning the libs” as their only platform item.
If McCarthy does anything with any Dems, it doesn’t seem crazy to him, he just knows it’ll result in a primary battle where his opponents will roll out his record of working with the enemy (which they’ve convinced a large portion of their voters, are pedos and election thieves).
Back when Republicans knew how to deal with Russian agents
Pretty much.
Whine as he may. The effect is still the same.
Still all one big family even if some of them say the quiet parts out loud.
He is completely beholden to the far right. The approval votes by the far right were what got him just about enough votes to get him into Speakership. If they turn on him, he’ll be kicked out for sure.
Not if he can get Democrat votes. He can work with them and gain their votes to keep his position.
If he tries that, even the moderate republicans will pull their votes for him.
Also, even if that somehow did work, the Democrats will likely then pull their votes because they want a Democrat as speaker. The Democrats might not be Republicans, but they sure as hell are not above this kind of partisanship
If he does that he’ll be removed as speaker.
Not if the Dems agree to vote to keep him. He could play this like an intelligent human being and still keep his job, so long as he’s willing to weather a bit of right-wing media blowback for the next few months. He just has to strike a bipartisan deal, like he’s supposed to.
That seems a tall order given his long history of biting the Dem’s hands every time they reach out. This is a problem of his party’s own making and stems from not honoring their earlier agreements around the debt ceiling.
Besides, they can’t agree to something he hasn’t (and won’t) ask for.
I don’t disagree. I’m just saying Dems could offer to vote to keep him in his position in exchange for a bipartisan deal. That doesn’t mean they capitulate completely, just that they offer him something he wants (his job) in exchange for something they want.
I didn’t say they’ve asked or are responsible for agreeing to anything, please follow the whole thread. I was responding to someone who said he’d lose his job if he worked with Dems on a bipartisan deal. He wouldn’t if they threw him the bone of a vote to keep him if his caucus moves to vacate him as Speaker. I’m not commenting on the likelihood of anything like this happening, simply that it’s possible.
Working with the Dems will make his next Primary difficult, he hasn’t got that long before that comes around again. This is what he, and a lot of the more moderate republicans are really scared of, being cut off from the grift by their own party.
You’re right, but it’s certainly a calculation that will change as pressure mounts. Is the political cost of working on a bipartisan compromise bigger than the cost of a shutdown he’ll be blamed for? Right now, maybe not. Over time? It might very well get there. It’s a lose-lose proposition at the moment, he just has to decide which loss he’s more afraid of.
Why the hell should they??
To have a functioning government. There’s 0 chance there will be a democratic speaker. There’s a pretty good chance nothing works, and normal people don’t get paid for weeks or months if bipartisanship is out.
To have a functioning bad government.
Bipartisanship is suicide in the long run.
The choices are the status quo or worse. There is no option for better that they’re rejecting by using bipartisanship to pass a clean CR.
The status quo is going to kill everyone everywhere forever.
And how does not making a deal with McCarthy to pass a clean CR help with that exactly?
You want to look like an unhinged melodramatic who shouldn’t be taken seriously?
Because statements like that are how you look like an unhinged melodramatic who shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Uhhh, isn’t that kind of what McCarthy actually did? He worked closely with President Biden to put this budget together and it seems to be a big reason why the Freedom Caucus morons are pitching a fit.
Not at all. McCarthy got the deal he thought he could sell to his team.
McCarthy working with the Democrats in Congress would mean getting a deal way more Democrat friendly, and forgetting about even trying to appease the freedom Caucus.