Focus on Shutdown, Ukraine in Spotlight

Key Takeaways
  • House Republicans' internal disagreements force Speaker McCarthy to pull the Department of Defense appropriations bill, legislation that normally has broad bipartisan support.
  • The effort to agree on a Continuing Resolution to avoid or postpone a shutdown will likely hinge on the issue of further U.S. assistance for Ukraine.
  • Spotlighting the issue, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits New York next week to address the United Nations General Assembly before heading to Washington for meetings with President Biden and Congressional leaders.

The House basically wasted a week of posturing on how to move forward on spending bills in order to avoid a government shutdown on October 1.  The  Speaker’s plan was to show a united front among House Republicans by passing the appropriations bill for the Defense Department. The DoD bill has traditionally had strong bipartisan support, and this year’s bill supplies much-needed funding to pay troops more and increase housing allotments.  However, conservative Republicans wanted to add limits on abortion and also get agreement on broad cuts for domestic social programs. In the end Speaker McCarthy fell victim to the threat from conservatives to vote against the “rule” under which bills come to the floor in the House and pulled the bill. sending the House members home a day early. 

As the week ended, there were reports that the conservative House Freedom Caucus and the more moderate Republican group, the Main Street Caucus. have started talks to agree on a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government open for 30 to 60 days in order to buy more time for approving the yearlong spending bills.

In addition to the CR, the talks between the two groups include the addition of a Republican border bill and the disaster relief money requested by the President for FEMA.  The thinking is that by removing the immediate risk of a government shutdown the House could then go on to pass the 11 spending bills they have not yet acted on. The problem is that this strategy has not yet gotten agreement from either group, and leaving out aid to Ukraine makes it a nonstarter in the Senate.

Ukraine will be in the spotlight next week as President Zelenskyy comes to the US to address the UN General Assembly and then heads to DC for meetings as Congress debates more aid.  Zelenskyy’s visit will become a rallying point for those members of Congress who support the aid the White House has requested. His meeting with Congressional leaders is likely to add to the tensions between a band of House Republicans who oppose aid and the united Democrats and many Republicans who support Ukraine as it fights Russia and support the inclusion of new assistance to Ukraine in the CR.

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