Do House Democrats Really Want to Shut Down the Border? Senator Corrigendum on McCarthy’s Plan to Close the U.S. Government
McCarthy could avoid a shutdown if he chose to work across the aisle with Democrats to approve a stopgap bill, and there continue to be some discussions with group of moderate House Republicans and Democrats about a proposal to avoid a shutdown, or get out of one.
But that stopgap measure is a nonstarter in the Senate, and right now it’s not even clear House Republicans can even get it across the finish line later this week.
Citing statistics saying 11,000 migrants are entering the U.S. illegally each day, McCarthy has argued that the president and Senate Democrats have ignored the situation at the border. He points out that Democratic officials in New York and other states have expressed concern about the recent influx of migrants, and that President Biden is ignoring their calls for help.
Steve Womack said that he and other McCarthy allies wanted to keep the government open, but that they also wanted an ability to veto any short-term spending bill.
The Congress is close to a shutdown. The Senate is moving forward with a short-term bipartisan bill to fund the government through November 17 and provide aid to Ukraine and for disasters in the United States. But House Republicans have rejected that plan and are moving ahead with their own approach, which pairs spending cuts with harsher immigration policies.
McConnell said Wednesday “a vote against a standard, short-term funding measure is a vote against paying over $1 billion in salary for CBP and ICE agents working to track down lethal fentanyl and tame our open borders.”
He said he didn’t want to give any advice to House Republicans, but noted that border agents working without pay in a shutdown would be less likely to negotiate with the White House.
The No. 3 Senate GOP leader, Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, said Senate Republicans would work on amendments to address the increase in migration and issues related to illegal drugs. He told reporters the American people “deserve a government that is open and a border that is closed.”
West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said she backs adding some immigration provisions to a stopgap bill, but added, “at this point right now 77 percent of the American people do not think we should shut the government down. I’m in the 77 percent.
Florida GOP Rep. Byron Donalds told reporters that the Senate bill is a “nonstarter” and added, “the Senate needs to get real. You’ve all seen the images at the southern border. It has to stop — immediately. The government shouldn’t be funded if we don’t secure our border.
McCarthy thinks that the hold outs are siding with Biden by not endorsing the bill with increased border funding. Florida GOP Rep. Mills told reporters that’s not true.
“If they want to play politics with messaging, then by all means, let them go ahead and do that. Mills said that his vote remained the same. We care about securing our borders. That is a top priority for us.
Reply to McCarthy’s call for shutdown blame from GOP feuds: a counterexample to the debate between the House and Senate
They oppose any continuing resolutions to keep agencies funded as the House and Senate negotiate on spending bills.
A pledge for House votes to be individually on all annual spending bills was cut by McCarthy in order to get the votes to be elected speaker.
He said they would force a dozen appropriations bills because their back was up against the wall. “And if that means we close and that we shut down, that’s what we’re going to do.”
Conservatives seem to be unaffected by the impact that a shutdown would have on those who rely on federal assistance. McCarthy on Tuesday redirected questions about workers concerned about furloughs again to border concerns.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., shrugged off a report that millions of women could lose aid from the Women, Infant and Children nutrition program if the government shuts down:
Source: McCarthy revives immigration battles in bid to shift shutdown blame from GOP feuds
The debate about immigration and the border wall crisis: Mike Lawler, an ally of McCarthy, facing the challenge of the far-right critics
Yes, you hear all that. Granny’s going over the cliff. What about the country going to the cliff?” he said. “That’s ludicrous. I’ve heard that song and dance all over again. They’re going to use that.
There was a fight about the border that triggered the government shutdown. The spending bills were supposed to include money to build a wall along the southwest border. He refused to support a bill that didn’t meet that demand. After a record 33 days, the president gave in and agreed to a bill to reopen the government without any new funding for the wall.
In 2020, Biden won a suburban district in New York, that’s why Mike Lawler is a part of those bipartisan talks. He says that the speaker’s strategy will work for now because he says the Biden strategy has failed when it comes to immigration. He said that if the Republicans don’t come together, they will get blamed for a shutdown, but he encouraged his colleagues to be strategic and smart.
If the speaker fails to broker a deal with the Democrats by the deadline then one of his critics will move to remove him from his job.
The threat from Gaetz was not taken seriously by McCarthy on the House floor on Tuesday. He shifted blame for the funding fight to the president in order to keep his position.
A leadership challenge from the critics on the far right could be problematic for the speaker’s position, says an ally of McCarthy.
The President’s Closed Hand: Preparing for a White House Speakership in the Presence of a Government Shutdown
The White House is getting ready to communicate with the public and with federal workers in the event that Congress fails to reach a last-second agreement to keep the government funded beyond Saturday night, President Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients told NPR.
Even if Biden is talking to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy about funding in the near future it doesn’t seem likely.
House Republicans were responsible for funding the government. “We shouldn’t be having this discussion,” he said. The bipartisan funding deal that Congress and the White House struck in May was settled months ago, he said. Spending limits for two years were set in order to avoid this scenario.
When he got off the meeting with the cabinet secretaries, he made a point of saying he was concerned about the impact a shutdown would have on the 1.3 million active troops and air traffic controllers. He also noted FEMA recovery projects and small business loans would stall.
There’s nothing we can do to avoid the bad consequences, but we will be prepared.
Zients said he did not expect a shutdown to hurt the economy – at least in the short term. It’s never a great time for the Government to be shut down. He said that the economy is strong and that the government will function as long as House Republicans do their job.
Biden, who is on his way back to Washington after a three-day fundraising trip in California and Arizona, has told donors in recent days that a shutdown would be “disastrous” and described McCarthy as choosing to try to keep his speakership rather than do what’s in the interests of the country.
The White House has sought to draw a contrast between Biden governing – and House Republicans who Zients described as focused on a “shutdown and other extraneous issues that really have nothing to do with making peoples’ lives better.”
Zients received some advice on how to handle a moment like this from former White House chiefs of staff this summer, over dinner. They told him to make sure he talks to the American people, pursues a deal in a bipartisan way and focus on his day-to-day work.
“If there is a government shutdown, the president will definitely be talking to the American people as he usually does in these times,” he said. “Fully expect the president to explain what’s going on to the American people and push Congress to do the right thing.”