McCarthy Says US Shutdown Would Be Self-Defeating for GOP

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Bloomberg

September 17, 2023 at 11:58 AM EDT
Updated on September 17, 2023 at 1:37 PM EDT


House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he wants to avoid a US government shutdown because it would undermine his party’s leverage in negotiations over spending cuts sought by Republicans. “I want to make sure we don’t shut down,” McCarthy said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. “I don’t think that is a win for the American public and I definitely believe it’ll make our hand weaker if we shut down.”

With the federal government rapidly approaching its Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year, the Republican leader cited signs of progress on getting spending bills through the House. He didn’t provide specifics. Some House Republicans last week said they are convinced Congress won’t be avert a partial shutdown of many agencies or even reach a deal to temporarily extend government funding.

McCarthy’s insistence on averting a shutdown has put him in a clash with House GOP conservatives who are calling for spending cuts, border security measures and other demands that Democrats have said they oppose. “I’ve never seen anyone win a shutdown,” he said Sunday. In the intra-party maneuvering to lock in a House version of a federal spending plan, McCarthy said he expects to bring the defense funding bill to the floor this week, “win or lose.”

Last week, McCarthy was forced to pull a Pentagon spending bill from the House floor for lack of support in his party. He also said “I believe we’ll get agreement this week” on a spending bills. McCarthy meant an agreement among House Republicans, a person familiar with the matter said. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the chamber’s Republican fight a “civil war” that’s pushing them toward a shutdown and an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-17/mccarthy-says-government-shutdown-would-be-self-defeat-for-gop

[emulatorloo]

1. Best of luck w your deranged maniacs.

[wryter2000]

2. Can't he pass this with Dem support?

Or is he so afraid of losing his speaker support he’ll cause misery for everyone AND ruin his party’s chances in 2024?

[BumRushDaShow]

6. In "show fights', the GOP *always* fixates on

the "Hastert Rule". I.e., "The 'majority of the majority'" is needed to actually schedule and pass legislation. It's the complete antithesis of being "bipartisan" that the media refuses to call out and magnify.

[Gore1FL]

15. If he would have reached to the Democrats instead of the fascists from the beginning...

...he may have had a viable speakership known for working across the aisle.

Instead, he chose Trump. He has eliminated his own political maneuverability in unforced errors.

[ananda]

18. Total ruin for the GOP works for me!

For fucking sure!

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Honey Badger don't give a shit.

[Attilatheblond]

4. Does he STILL not know the GOP is now a dealth cult?

Is he so dim that he hasn't noticed most elected officials of his party don't have a clue how government works, or even why?

How insecure does a guy have to be to basically self-castrate to get to fulfill his dream of holding a gavel? How is he surprised that his side of the aisle is a bunch of jugheads who only consider new ways to get attention?

[sdfernando]

12. Oh man you really hit the nail right on the head

with self-castrate!

Awesome observation!

[ananda]

19. Well said!

!!!

[yankee87]

5. Qpublican crazy

Your party doesn't give a shit about governing. It's all about the grift and pleasing 45.

[CloudWatcher]

13. Well no ... they do care about governing

... they actively seek to make government worse, so they can blame the dems and crow about how government is broken and needs to be dismantled (aka privatized).

There used to be "moderate" Republicans ... but ever since the Tea Party they've been purged and removed from Congress.

[ShazzieB]

22. I have a theory that there still are moderate Republicans in Congress.

They're just too scared of TFG and his crazed cultists to do anything other than toe the MAGA line.

As evidence, I offer what Mitt Romney (a moderate Republican himself) said about Republicans criticizing Trump privately but acting like they support him in public because they're afraid for the personal safety of themselves and their families. Also look what happened to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because they had the guts to serve on the J6 committee.

Over on the GOP side, the inmates have literally taken over the asylum, and anyone who's halfway sane doesn't have a chance. That party is fubar* thanks to Trump and the thirst for power that made party leaders like McConnell decide to bow down to him. They're at the finding out stage right now, but they're still not ready to stand up to him.

*fucked up beyond all recognition

[usonian]

7. He wants his job like crazy

but on terms that make him (roughly) historically the worst to hold it, and the destroyer of his "party"

Kevin has no stones.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181885928
He couldn't find two stones in a rock pile (use your naughty mind)

[StoolPigeon]

8. My two cents...

I suspect that the Republicans are stalling for a last minute passage so that the Democratically controlled Senate won't have time to amend it.

[Rebl2]

9. That could be

[BumRushDaShow]

14. The "Democratically controlled" Senate

have already drafted most of the appropriations bills with bipartisan support and took the ONE completed "budget-related" bill sent over from the House - (the House version of the NDAA), erased what the House passed, substituted their own version, and sent it back to the House.

Meanwhile, the House couldn't even get the appropriations for that NDAA squared away.

[CTyankee]

10. Sez the guy hanging on for dear life...

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

25. Really?

Because if you think it would be any easier to remove him than to get him into the position, then you'll have a rude awakening.

He'll hold that gavel until the Democrats take it from him. His party is in too much disarray to vote him out, and the Democrats won't get involved. If I were Hakeem Jeffries, I'd tell the entire party to vote only "Present" on any speaker removal issue. The Freedom Caucus is hoping the Democrats will help them reach their goals. Our side needs to make them work for that. Make the traitor trash own the outcome--no one else.

Furthermore, the Democrats know what you don't: If McCarthy went bye-bye, the next person with the gavel from that bunch of scumbags would be even worse.

Think about it.

[CTyankee]

27. Could be. I don't care how he goes as long as he goes and this kind of mess is what the pukes

have over and over again until they are out of power.

[bucolic_frolic]

11. Qev thinks he controls the path of this monster?

Power's gone to his head.

[PortTack]

17. And who does this sound like following the '16 election??!!

[moonshinegnomie]

16. im willing to wager hes no longer speaker in 30 days

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

26. I'll take that bet

Because I'm even more certain that he's not going anywhere. His side is in too much disarray to agree on anything, and the Democrats will be smart and stay out of that brawl.

It's like everyone forgot what it took to get him into the office--and how that alone dictates that it will be even more difficult to get him out. None of the remotely sane people in his party want to go through that idiocy.

You also seem to forget how much of the internal workings of the House he controls. McCarthy has the kind of power over how many shots they get at him. Remember: It took 15 ballots to get him the gavel. He won't give them 15 chances at taking it from him.

I can guarantee that.

[tclambert]

20. Wisdom from McCarthy? Well, that won't stand. He'll walk back these comments in 3...2...1...

[DemocraticPatriot]

21. DUH! But do you have the votes ???

Poor Kevin.... caught in a very fucked up situation...



Hey kev, you might have gotten some Democratic help--
if you had not caved to an impeachment inquiry with no evidence,
against the Democratic president...

Now it looks as if you are on your own, with the madness

[oldsoftie]

23. Wow, he actually said something TRUE for a change.

[malthaussen]

24. To say nothing of self-defeating for the nation.

But the Speaker is discovering something that he should have already realized: just as his Party has utter contempt and disregard for the good of the nation, so do several members of his Party have utter contempt and disregard for the good of that Party. This is the inevitable result of the politics of individualism, which place grandstanding and headline-grabbing over the welfare of any group.

-- Mal