White House starts countdown to ‘House Republican shutdown’ amid speaker impasse

The White House is reminding House Republicans there are only three weeks until the federal government may need to be shut down as the conference continues to fight over who should be its next speaker.

“In the 20 days since House Republicans voted to make themselves leaderless, President [Joe] Biden has constantly fought for the American people, proposing a historic, concrete, bipartisan plan to strengthen our national security and grow our economy,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Tuesday. “But instead of joining President Biden in fighting for the American people, House Republicans have constantly fought with each other.”

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House Republicans are “mired in seemingly endless finger-pointing and competitions to take the most extreme positions imaginable,” according to Bates.

“Now we’re 24 days from a House Republican shutdown,” he said. “It’s in the best interest of the country, and House Republicans themselves, to get their act together instead of perpetuating a split screen in which they bicker while President Biden keeps lowering costs and leading on the world stage. But only they can help themselves.”

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stressed earlier Tuesday that Biden and Democrats are willing to work with Republicans in a bipartisan manner but that the House GOP Conference has to deal with the chaos it created when it decided to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker three weeks ago. The conference has since nominated House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) for the position, but none could secure the support of roughly 217 colleagues required for a floor vote.

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“There’s a lot of work to be done,” the press secretary said. “We think it’s important that House Republicans get their affairs in order, so we can continue to deliver for the American people.”

“It is for them to decide who is going to be the House speaker, ‘them’ being House Republicans,” she added. “The president is doing his job as president and commander in chief.”