McCarthy rules bipartisan Senate CR ‘dead on arrival’ as House remains at standstill

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said the Senate‘s continuing resolution to fund the government will be “dead on arrival” in the House.

“After meeting with House Republicans this evening, it’s clear the misguided Senate bill has no path forward and is dead on arrival,” McCarthy said. “The House will continue to work around the clock to keep government open and prioritize the needs of the American people.”

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Both chambers of Congress are working to create a stopgap funding bill as the deadline looms on Sept. 30. House Republicans failed to pass a continuing resolution on Friday, 198 to 232, with 21 Republicans joining Democrats to bring it down.

The failure was a major blow to GOP leadership, making it more likely that the government is heading toward a shutdown, which would begin on Oct. 1.

House Democrats have urged centrist Republicans to come to the table and engage in bipartisan discussions to advance a spending bill, with little to no success. Hardline House Republicans are seeking to create legislation that goes against the debt ceiling compromise made between McCarthy and President Joe Biden.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced on Tuesday that Senate Democrats and Republicans had reached a bipartisan bill — one that House Democrats said they would vote for. It would fund the government through Nov. 17 and included $6.15 billion for Ukraine.

McCarthy’s words have already angered some Democrats who have accused Republicans for holding funding the government hostage for political reasons.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) blasted McCarthy on X, saying that there are “26 hours until a government shutdown and this guy is taking the only bipartisan bill to fund the government and setting it on fire.”

“You’re setting the only bipartisan bill to fund the government on fire just to throw millions of Americans into financial insecurity without a plan. All for a stunt,” Ocasio-Cortez continued in another post. “If you actually followed through on something so destructive to innocent people, you should vacate or resign.”

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Several hard-line conservatives have been threatening for weeks to vote against any temporary legislation and only advance single-subject spending bills. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), one of the most vocal opponents of a CR, has repeatedly warned McCarthy that he would seek to remove him as GOP leader if he advanced a stopgap measure.

One of the CR’s holdups is funding for Ukraine, which McCarthy said should move separately from government funding. He floated the idea of moving a “clean” CR that does not include aid for Ukraine. He had said following a lengthy GOP conference meeting on Friday that “if the Senate puts Ukraine on there and focuses Ukraine over America, I think that could cause real problems.”