Speaker Kevin McCarthy brought up a vote to advance a bill to fund the Defense Department on Thursday. For the second time this week, it failed.
WASHINGTON — For the second time this week, House Republicans on Thursday failed to start debate on a key military funding bill after five conservative rebels blocked the measure over demands for additional spending cuts.for Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans as Washington barrels toward a government shutdown.
Thursday's vote came after House Republicans had reported significant progress following a more than two-hour"family meeting" in the basement of the Capitol on Wednesday evening. McCarthy and others had hoped that a successful vote on the military bill would hand Republicans some momentum to pass a short-term funding bill to avert a government shutdown slated for Oct. 1.
Caving to demands of the hard-right rebels, the speaker agreed to move a one-month, short-term government funding bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, with a topline funding level of $1.471 trillion — much lower than the Senate’s CR, according to lawmakers leaving the meeting. House Republicans will need to pass something that can also get through the Democratic-controlled Senate and earn President Joe Biden's signature before midnight on Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown.
Finally, under McCarthy’s plan, other fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills would be marked to the topline number of $1.526 trillion, lawmakers said.