BackUS Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy says government shutdown can be avoided if…
US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday suggests government shutdown could be avoided if Democrat Senators address border issues in stopgap measure.
PremiumUS Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has hinted that there is a possibility of government shutdown could be avoided if the Democrat Senators agreed to address US-Mexico border immigration issues in their stopgap measure.
"I talked this morning to some Democratic senators over there that are more aligned with what we want to do. They want to do something about the border," McCarthy was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“We're trying to work to see, could we put some border provisions in that current Senate bill that would actually make things a lot better,"
McCarthy also opened up about the problems he is facing managing Republican legislators, he said (as quoted by AP), “Members say they only want to vote for individual bills, but they hold me up all summer and won’t let me bring individual bills up. Then they say they won’t vote for a stopgap measure that keeps government open,"
Meanwhile, Democrat senators on Thursday passed a bipartisan stopgap funding bill that is aimed at averting a fourth government shutdown in a decade, reported Reuters. Senate's stopgap funding measure would extend federal spending until November 17, and authorizes roughly $6 billion each for domestic disaster response funding and aid to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia.
What is the reason for impending threat of US Government shutdown?
The core issue behind the shutdown is the status of Speaker Kevin McCarthy who is under attack by hardline Republicans or ‘Freedom Caucus’ for agreeing to spending limits with President Joe Biden.
House Republicans have rejected spending levels for fiscal year 2024 set in a deal Speaker Kevin McCarthy had negotiated with Biden in May.
The agreement included $1.59 trillion in discretionary spending in fiscal 2024.
Republicans are demanding another $120 billion in cuts, plus tougher legislation that would stop the flow of immigrants at the US-Mexico border.
McCarthy is facing intense pressure from his caucus to achieve their goals. Several hardliners have threatened to oust McCarthy from his leadership role if he passes a spending bill that requires any Democratic votes to pass.
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