The last-ditch effort of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to prevent a temporary shut down of the federal government totally fell to pieces on Friday as the hold outs in the Republican Party, well, held out, rejecting the proposed package, almost totally guaranteeing a shutdown. It’s truly time for the establishment in the GOP to hang it up. Have we not made it clear we despise their weak, spineless compromises? Our economy is imploding. We need to drastically reduce spending. You can’t get out of debt by spending more money. You have to go on a tight budget, which yes, is painful, and make massive cuts. Eventually, the debt will be paid down and you can increase your budget, carefully, and thoughtfully, remaining within your means.
via Newsmax:
The most conservative Republicans refused to support the bill despite spending cuts of nearly 30% to many agencies and severe border security provisions, calling it insufficient.
The White House and Democrats rejected the Republican approach as too extreme. The vote was 198-232, with 21 hard-right Republicans voting to sink the package. The Democrats voted against it.
The bill’s failure a day before Saturday’s deadline to fund the government leaves few options left to prevent a shutdown that will furlough federal workers, keep the military working without pay and disrupt programs and services for millions of Americans.
The outcome puts McCarthy’s speakership in serious jeopardy with almost no political leverage to lead the House at a critical moment that has pushed the government into crisis.
Just ahead of voting on the package, McCarthy basically dared those who were holding out to oppose the package, which they then promptly did. Probably not the smartest thing he could have done given the situation. The smart thing would have been to listen better to what his colleagues had to say and actually work with them on this issue.
“Every member will have to go on record where they stand,” the California Republican stated at the Capitol. When the speaker was asked by the media if he had enough votes to pass the bill, he retorted, “We’ll see.”
It only took a few minutes into the floor debate before the biggest challenger of McCarthy’s proposal, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, clearly announced he would vote against the package, referring to the border security provisions it contained as being insufficient to meet the challenges Border Patrol is facing down south. He then encouraged other hold outs to “not surrender.”
“The federal government is heading straight into a shutdown after midnight Saturday that would leave 2 million military troops without pay, furlough federal works and disrupt government services and programs that Americans rely on from coast to coast. Congress has been unable to fund the agencies or pass a temporary bill to keep offices open,” the report said.
In an attempt to cater to the most conservative members of his party, McCarthy has returned to the lower spending limits it demanded back in January as part of the deal-making to help him become the House speaker.
The package would not cut the Defense, Veterans or Homeland Security departments but would have slashed almost all other agencies by up to 30% — steep hits to a vast array of programs, services and departments Americans routinely depend on.
The package also provided new border security provisions that would ultimately lead to the building of the border wall that could potentially help reduce the number of illegal migrants crossing into the country. This is severely needed right now as the strain on many communities in border states like Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico is coming to a head.
Let’s hope some sort of agreement is reached soon that will truly benefit the country.
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