House rejects McCarthy-backed bill to avoid government shutdown as deadline nears

Washington — The House on Friday rejected a measure backed by Speaker Kevin McCarthy that would have kept the government open for a month at reduced spending levels, with a group of hard-right Republicans handing McCarthy yet another defeat in his efforts to avoid a government shutdown.

The 165-page bill, known as a continuing resolution, failed by a vote of 198 in favor to 232 opposed. Republican holdouts who oppose any short-term deal torpedoed the legislation despite the inclusion of billions of dollars to bolster security at the U.S.-Mexico border, which McCarthy had hoped would attract their support. Democrats opposed the legislation due to its spending cuts.

The bill’s failure comes ahead of the fast-approaching deadline to avoid a government shutdown, which would technically begin at 12 a.m. Sunday when funding for most federal agencies expires.

A shutdown would force millions of federal employees to go on furlough or continue working without getting paid until the funding lapse ends. Most of the effects wouldn’t begin to be felt until Monday morning, when employees would report to work to start implementing agency-specific shutdown procedures.

Even if it passed the House, McCarthy’s bill would not have been taken up by the Senate, which is working on its own bipartisan legislation. President Biden also promised to veto the House bill before the vote, further sealing its fate.

Nearly a dozen far-right Republicans have said they wouldn’t support or were unlikely to support any continuing resolution. With just a four-seat majority in the House, McCarthy has failed so far to craft a bill that would fund the government and attract majority support in both chambers. Democrats are opposed to GOP-backed spending cuts and want government funding extended at current levels. 

Attention now turns to the Senate. The legislation introduced by Senate Democrats was still being negotiated Friday, but an early version would extend government funding at current levels until Nov. 17. It also includes billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, which many Republicans in the House oppose. McCarthy has said Ukraine aid should be taken up separately, and the House voted to approve $300 million in aid on Thursday night, an amount far below what senators and the White House are calling for.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told senators to expect a preliminary vote on the Democratic version of the bill on Saturday morning if lawmakers failed to reach a bipartisan agreement on Friday.