Members of Congress in the immediate days ahead are expected to engage in fierce debates and parliamentary skirmishes over spending priorities as a September 30 government shutdown date grows nearer.
While members of the Senate have cobbled together an initial spending compromise to keep the government up and running, matters are more complicated in the House.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy has a narrow path for any bill with only 222 Republican members and a majority of 218 needed to pass legislation.
That path is made complicated by members of his own caucus who are pushing for greater spending cuts.
Speaking with The Hill newspaper, South Carolina Representative Ralph Norman remarked: “We’re going to use our votes to defund as many things as we can.”
Another member, Pennsylvania Representative Scott Perry, declared in a news conference that “what we’re not going to do is say that we’re going to pass things without knowing what the plan is; and knowing that it leads to the increased spending that is crippling our citizens.”
Other concerns frequently mentioned by some conservative members: more funding to complete construction of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and getting rid of what are called politically correct or “woke” policies currently in play at the Department of Defense.
Reporter Li Zhou, writing for the site Vox, noted that a spring agreement between Congress and President Biden that saw passage of a new debt ceiling, could only become reality this time around if McCarthy manages to “build a coalition of House Republicans and Democrats.”
There have been 20 shutdowns in the last four decades, with the most recent lasting for just over a month in late December 2018 and January 2019.
Other shutdowns were averted when lawmakers passed a series of continuing resolutions that extended the funding levels of various agencies before a final overall budget vote was agreed to.
By Garry Boulard
