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With just days to go before the government runs out of money, the Senate has unveiled a bipartisan stopgap bill in a bid to avert a shutdown ? but there?s no guarantee that it will be able to pass in the House.
The release of the Senate bill, which was negotiated on a bipartisan basis, sets up a stark contrast ? and a showdown ? with the House, where the Republican majority faces deep divisions and the demands of hardline conservatives have been highly influential in driving the agenda as a shutdown looms.
The two chambers are now on a collision course as the House voted Tuesday night to advance a package of appropriations bill that are dead on arrival in the Senate and would not avert a government shutdown.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy dismissed the bipartisan Senate stopgap measure, telling reporters on Tuesday night, ?Let me know? when they pass that bill and saying that he had talked to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell earlier in the day. McCarthy said the House will consider a separate stopgap bill with border provisions likely on Friday, regardless of whether GOP leadership is confident the votes are there to pass it.
McCarthy has little room to maneuver with only a narrow majority. Hardline conservatives have railed against the prospect of a short-term funding extension and many oppose additional aid to Ukraine, two major obstacles to finding consensus with the Senate.
The Senate stopgap bill, which would keep the government funded until November 17, includes $6.2 billion in Ukraine aid and $6 billion for natural disasters.
McCarthy told his leadership team Tuesday night that he plans to amend the Senate?s stopgap spending bill to include a House GOP border security package, according to multiple sources familiar, teeing up a massive confrontation with the Senate over immigration on the eve of the shutdown deadline.” – CNN | Posted by Thrillz |
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