House Republicans cleared four full-year budget measures on Tuesday, giving Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) a little victory but accomplishing little to stave a government shutdown at the end of the month.
The chamber voted 216-212 to begin debating funding bills for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, State, and Foreign Operations, as well as Agriculture, Rural Development, and the Food and Drug Administration. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was the lone Republican to vote no.
Her opposition was unsurprising: prior to the vote, she stated that she was a “hard no” on the rule because two of the budget measures included financing for Ukraine.
McCarthy initially stated that he would withdraw Ukraine help from the Pentagon funding measure and conduct a separate vote on it, but later reversed his position after learning that assistance for Kyiv was also included in the appropriations bill for the Department of State and overseas operations. The Speaker said it would be “too difficult” to remove the funds from the State Department measure.
Following the vote, Greene spoke out against Ukraine’s aid.
“I just voted against moving Ukraine funding bills forward.” We’ll find out who is really opposed to providing YOUR money to Ukraine after tonight. There will be no more stump speeches. There will be no more red meat. “There will be no more chest thumping in letters,” Greene wrote on X.
The winning procedural vote is a small victory for McCarthy, who has struggled to pass spending bills this month due to conservative opposition. The House attempted to pass the Department of Defense spending bill twice last week, but it was defeated both times.
The bills’ passage, however, will do nothing to avert a government shutdown before the Sept. 30 spending deadline.
Leaders in both parties and chambers have acknowledged that a continuing resolution would be required to keep the lights on in Washington after the deadline on Saturday, but the route to passing such a measure is unclear.
Senate leaders announced a package to avoid a government shutdown on Tuesday, but it is unclear when it will pass the Senate or whether McCarthy would bring the proposal to the floor for a vote. The bill would push the funding deadline to November 17, and it would include around $6 billion for Ukraine and $6 billion for disaster relief.
McCarthy has attempted to rally his conference around a GOP-drafted continuing resolution that would cut spending while enacting a portion of the House Republican conference’s centerpiece border plan, but a number of hardliners have stated that they will not back a stopgap measure under any circumstances.
House Republicans believe that moving the four appropriations measures will persuade some of the Republican holdouts to support a continuing resolution. McCarthy announced on Tuesday that he will introduce a stopgap bill for a vote this week.
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