Senate to move first on stopgap bill while McCarthy blames Biden for shutdown showdown

The Senate is leapfrogging the House with a stopgap spending bill ahead of the Saturday shutdown deadline when government funding expires.

The Senate introduced a bipartisan stopgap bill on Tuesday. It would extend current funding levels until Nov. 17 and include nearly $6 billion in aid for Ukraine and $6 billion in disaster aid. Lawmakers overwhelmingly advanced the FAA authorization act, which leadership used as a vehicle to carry the stopgap bill, through its first procedural hurdle Tuesday night by a vote of 77 to 19. 

Lawmakers will have to move fast with the bill to beat the Saturday midnight deadline, but House Republicans remain divided on the temporary spending legislation.

The Senate bill now threatens to put House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the spot. If he allows it to pass, it will give conservative rebels in his GOP conference the excuse they are looking for to oust him as speaker.

The stopgap bills that House Republicans produced but not yet advanced to a vote all included conservative policy provisions that would doom the legislation in the Democrat-led Senate.

Similarly, the Senate’s version of a stopgap bill, which is known as a continuing resolution or CR, is unacceptable to many House Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer lauded the bipartisan buy-in for his bill and criticized Mr. McCarthy for struggling to wrangle enough support for a House bill.

“This bipartisan CR is a temporary solution, a bridge towards cooperation and away from extremism,” said Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat.

House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, sided with Mr. Schumer and warned that a shutdown hurts Americans and doesn’t advance any political cause.

“Over the years I’ve been pretty clear in my view that government shutdowns are bad news, whichever way you look at them,” Mr. McConnell said. “They don’t work as political bargaining chips. They create unnecessary hardships for millions of Americans.” 

While the short-term duration of the extended spending could help entice support from House Republicans, the spending levels, Ukraine aid and lack of border security provisions are nonstarters with the conservative rebels.

House conservatives have struggled at almost every step to advance spending bills and reach a consensus on a stopgap bill.

A faction of conservatives in the House have vowed to never back a stopgap bill, despite Mr. McCarthy’s best efforts to appease their demands. It’s likely enough votes in Mr. McCarthy’s narrow GOP majority to sink the bill.

Members of the faction, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, have likened support for extended spending to supporting Democratic policies of President Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who set current spending levels.

The holdouts have been pushing for Congress to complete the normal appropriations process regardless of a shutdown. Their push has worked. House lawmakers moved a package of spending bills through a procedural hurdle Tuesday night, teeing up the four measures for floor votes throughout the week.

Lawmakers who do not want a shutdown have been busy putting together options for stopgap bills.

Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, is most keen on a version that he pitched to members last week. It would slash overall spending to $1.47 trillion, include most of the House’s Secure the Border Act, and create a debt commission.

Now that the four spending bills are ready for the floor, a stopgap bill could be up for a vote by Thursday, but “probably on Friday,” he said.  

Mr. McCarthy has attempted to shift blame for a shutdown to Mr. Biden and the Senate. He said the president must answer for his border crisis. 

Mr. McCarthy also said it would be “very important to have a meeting” with Mr. Biden soon before the government partially closes. 

“The president, it’s in his hands so he can keep the government open by taking action on the border,” the speaker said. “And then let’s sit down, finish the bills we haven’t and let’s work.”