House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday that House Speaker Paul Ryan has no reason to fear losing his job.
“There is no fear with Speaker Ryan’s job at all,” Mr. McCarthy said on Fox News. “He’s got a 100 percent support from this conference.”
The House speaker has seen his approval ratings drop in the past few months with a new WSJ/NBC News poll showing 40 percent of people have a negative view of Mr. Ryan. His numbers took a big hit in the aftermath of the Republicans’ failed health care bill, which he primarily drafted.
But Mr. McCarthy said Republicans will not fail to prevent a government shutdown this week, even as funding for the border wall threaten the ability to reach a bipartisan agreement.
“We’ll continue to fund government and move forward,” the California Republican said. “A shutdown is not productive in any shape or form.”
Mr. McCarthy said appropriators are still in negotiation but the GOP will try to get whatever funding, if any, that they can for the border wall.
“We’re negotiating right now, so we’ll get whatever we can get into the approps process right now and whatever we don’t we’ll come right back to finish it off,” he explained.
Mr. McCarthy said an agreement will be reached before Friday’s deadline.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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