Republicans are going on summer break early, risking a government shutdown later this year

Source: Salon

Published July 25, 2024 12:07PM (EDT)


House Republicans, stumbling over demands from the right-wing Freedom Caucus, have failed to get even half of the 12 must-pass spending bills across the finish line, while the spending legislation that has passed is full of extreme provisions that Democrats in the Senate are certain to reject out of hand. Instead of working overtime, however, GOP leaders are canceling the remaining votes and sending House members away on summer recess — a week early — as the September deadline to avoid a government shutdown edges closer.

The decision to go on break is a reversal of Speaker Mike Johnson's earlier pledge to pass the bills that would fund the federal government through the 2025 fiscal year before the summer recess. Initially, it looked as if House Republicans might succeed — GOP appropriators managed to get all 12 bills onto the House floor and strip an abortion pill ban amendment from an Agriculture bill that doomed its passage last year.

But the string of good fortune could not last, as Johnson now faces the same intra-party fighting that toppled his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Far-right Republicans have vowed to vote against bills they argue do not sufficiently advance conservative priorities, forcing Johnson to pull several of them from the floor, including a bill to fund the legislative branch; the Energy and Water bill was also yanked away Tuesday, mere moments before a scheduled vote. Others, like an Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency bill that would strip the latter's funding by 20 percent, passed by the narrowest of margins due to largely united Democratic opposition and GOP defections.

Read more: https://www.salon.com/2024/07/25/are-going-on-summer-break-early-risking-a-government-shutdown-later-this-year/