(LibertySociety.com) – House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is caught between a rock and a hard place during negotiations for a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown. A large group of Republicans in the House have said they would not vote for a continuing resolution if it included additional funding for Ukraine. They have also demanded the inclusion of funding to secure the United States’ southern border.
Speaker McCarthy knows that a continuing resolution with no funding for Ukraine will not pass in the Democrat-controlled Senate. However, if he teams up with House Democrats to pass a House continuing resolution that his Republican colleagues oppose, he could be hit with a motion to vacate and lose his position as Speaker.
The Senate passed its own continuing resolution, including over $6 billion in funding for the war-torn country. Senator J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, voted against the measure but believes that every effort should be made to avoid a government shutdown. Vance told Newsweek that he thinks “it’s reasonable for us to get at least one thing through negotiations” since the American people elected a Republican majority in the House. He listed potential concessions that Democrats could agree to, including a decrease in funding for the Department of Justice, which he believes has been weaponized, or funding to get the southern border under control.
McCarthy took a jab at the Senate for not including funding for the border in its continuing resolution. He told the press that caring more about sending money to Ukraine than protecting our own border shows that “their priorities are backwards.” On September 28, McCarthy refused to take up the Senate’s bill in the House. Texas Republican Representative Michael McCaul believes that the United States should continue sending aid to Ukraine, but also thinks that putting the funding in the continuing resolution would put McCarthy in a tough position. However, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is adamant about including the funding in a continuing resolution. Negotiations are ongoing in both chambers.
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