Biden tears into ‘extreme’ House Republicans over looming shutdown

President Joe Biden once again ripped House Republicans Tuesday and warned against a government shutdown, with funding set to run out September 30th if lawmakers can’t reach a resolution. ‘In just about a week, we could be facing a government shutdown if Republicans in the House Representatives don’t do their job. There’s no reason for us to be in this position,’ he inveighed in a new video Biden released on his official account on the former Twitter site. Biden cited his earlier talks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, which resulted in agreement on spending levels. He warned against the potential toll on the military and on government services, as the White House prepares to try to capitalize on the prospect of chaos in the Capitol.

‘Now, there’s a small group of extreme House Republicans who don’t want to live up to that deal. So they’re determined to shut down the government – shut it down now. And it makes no sense,’ he said, speaking from the Oval Office in a video with multiple camera cuts. Biden said he was prepared to do his part by House Republicans ‘ refuse to stand up to the extremists in their party.’ In a shutdown scenario, military members would be on duty ‘but not get paid,’ Biden said, in just one of the federal impacts the White House has been rollign out this week. ‘And frankly, that’s adding insult to injury.’ Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday came to the Senate floor to warn against a shutdown, after earlier observing shutdowns haven’t worked out well for Republicans in the past.

‘Over the years, I’ve been pretty clear in my view that government shutdowns are bad news whichever way you look at them,’ McConnell said. ‘They don’t work as political bargaining chips. They create unnecessary hardships for millions of Americans. For example, nearly 46,000 servicemembers and 22,000 civilian workers in my home state of Kentucky who earn federal government paychecks. And they hardly ever produce meaningful policy outcomes at the end of the day,’ he continued. ‘A government shutdown would be an unnecessary disruption of the important work on the Senate’s agenda. So I would urge each of my colleagues to work this week to avoid one.’

He spoke while on the other side of the Capitol, House Republicans struggled to find a way forward. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he would put a short-term continuing resolution (CR) on the floor to fund the government beyond September 30. But McCarthy, facing pressure from his conference, would likely include provisions to bolster border security. ‘What’s concerning to me is that there are people in the Republican Party who will take the position of President Biden against what the rest of Americans want,’ McCarthy said Tuesday. The speaker can only afford to lose four Republican votes and still pass a party-line CR loaded up with spending cuts. But more than a quarter of Republicans have blasted a temporary funding bill, including Donald Trump loyalist Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). Biden’s video came a day after he dared Americans to stop electing Republicans if the government careens into shutdown next weekend.

‘Funding the government is one of the most basic, fundamental responsibilities of the Congress and if Republicans in the House don’t start doing their job, we should stop electing them,’ Biden said in remarks at the White House . The government will run out of money on September 30 if the House and Senate do not agree on spending legislation to send to the president’s desk. The president pointed to the debt ceiling deal he made with Speaker Kevin McCarthy, which set funding caps for fiscal year 2024. But the deal roiled some House conservatives who demanded McCarthy write up 12 separate spending bills at caps lower than those agreed to in the debt ceiling legislation. ‘Now, a small group of extreme House Republicans, they don’t want to live up to that deal and everyone in America could be faced with paying a price for that,’ he said. ‘We made a deal. We shook hands. We said this is what we’re going to do and now they’re reneging on the deal, which is not much of a surprise these days.’

Democrats have launched an all-out campaign to lay blame on Republicans for a government shutdown. Earlier the Biden campaign accused House Republicans of ‘gleefully letting Donald Trump function as their chief political strategist at the expense of American families.’ Five days before a government shutdown, it’s not clear the House is any closer to passing a spending deal than it was last week. Last week Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned shutdowns ‘have always been a loser for Republicans politically’ and that they’ve ‘never produced a policy change.’ Speaker Kevin McCarthy is expected to take yet another gamble with a rule vote that would advance four separate spending bills on Tuesday, though it’s far from clear the rule would pass.

The speaker would need to flip five Republican holdouts who voted ‘no’ on a rule vote for the defense spending bill last week, a rule vote that failed twice in 48 hours. The rule vote that tees up debate on spending bills typically passes with support from almost everyone in the majority party. But the House GOP has struggled to push through a rule vote three times this year. The rule vote for the military, the Department of Homeland Security, State and agriculture on Tuesday night will take the temperature for how the rest of the week could play out for House Republicans. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene , R-Ga., has already said she is a ‘hard no’ on the rule because it includes ‘blood money’ for Ukraine.

McCarthy had said he would strip $300 million to train Ukrainian soldiers from the defense spending bill and hold a separate vote on it on Friday. But he did an about-face and decided to leave the money in their as he realized it would be too difficult to strip that and the Ukraine funding in the bill for State Department funding. The other GOP ‘no’ votes include Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Eli Crane (Ariz.), Matt Rosendale (Mont.) and Dan Bishop (N.C.) and it’s not clear if any of them have changed their mind this week. Even if they are able to begin debate on the bills, it’s far from clear they could actually pass them. And if all 12 appropriations bills were passed by the House, a daunting feat in itself, the government would still shut down because the Senate would never take up and pass those bills by Saturday night.

Meanwhile, McCarthy is pushing forward with a Republican-only continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the government open and give his conference more time to push through spending bills. The Senate, meanwhile, is prepping a bill that could advance a Democrat-led CR and put pressure on McCarthy to put it on the floor. And House moderates have begun to prep their own bipartisan CR plans and look at ways to advance them without the blessing of leadership. Some moderate Republicans have said they would join with Democrats on a discharge petition, meaning they could force a CR vote on the floor if five Republicans and all Democrats agree to it. McCarthy has urged his colleagues to fight against a shutdown, even as some seem open to closing the government to get what they want. Trump urged Republicans on Truth Social Sunday: ‘UNLESS YOU GET EVERYTHING, SHUT IT DOWN!’ ‘You have to keep the government open. I mean, if people want to close the government — only makes them weaker,’ McCarthy said. ‘Why would they want to stop paying the troops or stop paying the border agents or the Coast Guard? I don’t understand how that makes you stronger. I don’t understand what point you’re trying to make.’ Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12563653/Biden-tears-extreme-House-Republicans-saying-theyre-determined-shut-government-McConnell-calls-shutdowns-bad-news-poor-bargaining-chips.html?ito=msngallery

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