Senate stopgap bill stopping in the House, says McCarthy

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he doesn’t “see the support” for the recently unveiled Senate stopgap bill. He made the comment after leaving a conference meeting with House Republicans.

Lawmakers in both chambers of Congress have been scrambling to advance legislation that would prevent a government shutdown, and only the Senate has made moves on a stopgap bill. 

With the Saturday deadline to fund the government or pass an extension to keep the lights on rapidly approaching, the Senate stopgap bill garnered overwhelming support in a test vote Tuesday night.

But that bill is wildly different from the proposals floated in the House.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck E. Schumer’s vision for a stopgap bill includes over $6 billion in Ukraine funding, $6 billion in disaster funding and spending set at this fiscal year’s levels until the proposed legislation’s end on Nov. 17.

House lawmakers have been calling for steep spending cuts and border legislation in a stopgap measure, two demands notably absent in the upper chamber’s measure.

Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, is pushing for a stopgap that includes a slash in overall spending to $1.471 trillion for the measure’s 30-day duration, most of the House’s Secure the Border Act and the creation of a debt commission.

Some House Republicans, like Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, have called the Senate stopgap bill a nonstarter, while others are dead set on preventing a shutdown and would support the bill if it were the only option.

“I think it would pass, and I don’t want to shut down. I would support it,” Rep. Don Bacon, Nebraska Republican, said. “But I do think we have an opportunity to do border security. It’s needed.”