But McCarthy will have to navigate a coalition of GOP lawmakers determined to cut federal spending. A myriad of possible complications include conservative demands around Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security funding and supplemental aid for Ukraine requested by the White House.
The Speaker told Republican lawmakers on a Monday evening conference call that he expects to move a continuing resolution (CR), according to multiple sources on the call. But he does not want it to butt up against the winter holiday, or drag on even longer.
“McCarthy has been allegedly talking about, ‘Well, we’ll do a three-month CR into December.’ That’s exactly the playbook to try to get it done and to roll us,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said in a Spaces conversation broadcast on X, formerly known as Twitter, Monday night. “So we’re going to have to throw everything we have in fighting that heading into September.”
While McCarthy’s remarks are the strongest sign yet that GOP leadership will pursue a CR, a stopgap has been widely anticipated since House Republicans passed just one of the 12 regular appropriations bills before leaving for the August recess.
Plans to pass another at the end of July were derailed by demands to slash spending and some unease around an abortion provision. Given the GOP’s slim majority, a handful of hardline Republicans could sink the CR if they vote against a procedural rule to bring it for consideration on the floor.
The Hill’s Emily Brooks and Mychael Schnell have more here.
