Senate Republicans overruled McConnell on Ukraine aid -
Senate Republicans overruled Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Ukraine aid during two separate closed-door lunch meetings yesterday and today, two sources with direct knowledge of conversations tell NBC News.
On Friday, McConnell successfully argued against Sen. Ron Johnson’s clean, two-week CR because it did not include funding for Ukraine.
But on Saturday, when he tried to make the same argument against proceeding with the House Republicans’ clean, 45-day CR for the same reason, McConnell was overruled.
Moments after the closed-door meeting, McConnell told reporters he instructed his members to vote against the bipartisan CR that included Ukraine aid and instead support the House effort.
This is significant for several reasons — McConnell typically has a firm grip on his conference, and they follow his lead. But this time, he was evidentially overruled.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a staunch supporter of more aid to the war-torn country, said Thursday he was not concerned that the exclusion of the aid would send a bad signal to European allies.
He told me they would, eventually, pass the funding attached to some sort of border security provision.
Rep. Matt Gaetz tried to speak but was stymied by adjournment
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., tried to get the attention of Rep. Steve Woman, R-Ark., who was acting as the speaker when the funding measure passed.
Gaetz shouted “Mr. Speaker” in an unsuccessful effort to be recognized and be allowed to speak on the floor.
But Womack recognized another member, who made a motion to adjourn and ended the day's session in the House.
The vote to keep the government open was exactly the kind of vote that Gaetz had warned would result in him trying outside McCarthy as the speaker — a spending bill passed with a majority of Democrats and not all of the Republicans.
House adjourns
After passing a 45-day stopgap measure with overwhelming bipartisan support, the House adjourned until Monday.
The ball is now in the Senate's court.
House passes 45-day measure to keep government open; sends bill to the Senate
In a surprising turn after seeming unable to collect enough support, the House voted 335 to 91 to pass a 45-day stopgap spending measure that would keep the government open beyond midnight.
The legislation passed with bipartisan support, with nearly every Democrat joining most Republicans despite the lack of support for Ukraine, which Democrats had made a priority.
The bill now heads to the Senate.
Democratic Coalition supports 45-day CR, says Ukraine funding still needed
Democratic Coalition Chair Annie Kuster said while her group will support the continuing resolution, aid for Ukraine is still needed.
"Speaker McCarthy and extreme House Republicans have refused to work in good faith with Democrats to fully fund the government, despite our continued calls to find a bipartisan path forward," she said in a statement. "While we support this measure to end this immediate crisis, we continue our calls for additional funding to support Ukraine in their fight for democracy and will work tirelessly to ensure they have the assistance required to win this war.”
House has votes needed to pass 45-day spending measure; voting continues
The House vote on the 45-day continuing resolution needs a 2/3rds majority to pass. With 290 votes and counting cast in favor of it, there appears to be the support needed to pass the bill.
Voting continues and any member can change their vote before it concludes.
Jeffries told Democrats to vote for 45-day spending bill
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told his members to vote in favor of the 45-day continuing resolution put forward by House Republicans.
This means it is likely the 45-day “clean” CR will get a 2/3rds majority and pass the House.
Quiet from the White House...
There has been radio silence so far from the White House on whether President Biden would encourage Democrats to support or oppose a 45-day stopgap funding bill.
Behind-the-scenes, however, senior administration officials are closely monitoring the latest Hill developments and evaluating what’s in the short-term CR in real-time, just like many lawmakers are doing.
The risks to the economy of a long-term shutdown
The most immediate impact of a shutdown will be furloughs and paused paychecks for hundreds of thousands of government employees and contractors.
Analysts don’t expect to see major ripple effects across the U.S. economy if a shutdown lasts just a few weeks, but the longer the federal government stays closed, the greater the chances of broader fallout.
Here’s a look at what to expect:
Read the full story here.
The House is voting now on a bill to avoid a shutdown for 45 days
The House is voting now on Speaker McCarthy's 45-day stopgap measure to avoid a shutdown.
Rep. Jamal Bowman allegedly pulls fire alarm in House building
Some reports began to emerge on Twitter that Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., was seen on camera pulling a fire alarm in the Cannon House office building earlier today around the time the House was supposed to begin voting on the new CR plan.
The House Administration Committee, which oversees the Capitol Police, posted a statement on X, formerly Twitter, from Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis.
“Rep Jamal Bowman pulled a fire alarm in Cannon this morning. An investigation into why it was pulled is underway. — Chairman Bryan Steil”
Neither Bowman nor the Capitol Police immediately returned requests for comment.
Democrats cheering as Jeffries promises news soon
Members have been coming back into the conference meeting and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., came back a moment ago, saying he would have some news shortly.
We just heard cheers from the room.
McConnell says he is encouraging GOP to vote no on Senate CR
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he is now encouraging his conference to vote no on the bipartisan Senate CR (which he has very vocally supported until this point), saying it’s “not necessarily because they’re opposed to the underlying bill — but to see what the House can do on a bipartisan basis, and then bring it over to us.”
“It looks like there may be a bipartisan agreement coming from the House," he said. So, I’m fairly confident that most of my members, our members, are going to vote against cloture — not necessarily because they’re opposed to the underlying bill — but to see what the House can do on a bipartisan basis, and then bring it over to us. So, under these circumstances, I’m recommending a no vote even though I very much want to avoid a government shutdown.”
The move likely means that the procedural vote the Senate was about to hold, which would be at a 60-vote threshold, would fail, blocking consideration of the bipartisan CR that the Senate has been working on all week. It’s not entirely clear if Schumer will continue with the vote, or wait to hold it until the House votes on their new CR.
