Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s newest bid to pass a GOP-only short-term spending plan, which he outlined for his members on Wednesday night, already looks to be on life support.
It’s the latest sign of the herculean lift the Californian faces to get even a doomed party-line Republican bill through the House, where he can only afford to lose four votes with Democrats expected to unite against his latest effort.
So far, McCarthy has at least nine “no” votes on his new proposal for even steeper spending cuts. Other Republicans suggest they will oppose a short-term funding bill more generally.
The no votes we count so far:
Reps. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) each said on Thursday that they oppose the stopgap patch that GOP leaders laid out late Wednesday. Their opposition alone makes clear that McCarthy doesn’t have the votes for the bill currently.
Asked about leaders’ hopes that a short-term bill could be ready to vote on by this weekend, Ogles laughed out loud.
“I think that would be highly premature,” he said.
They joined Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Cory Mills (R-Fla.) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) as first out of the gate in the opposition camp. On Wednesday night, that trio told reporters leaving a conference meeting that they opposed McCarthy’s plan.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) is also a no on the new plan, according to her spokesperson.
Another vote to watch: Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas).
Gonzales, during a tele-town hall on Wednesday night, didn’t specifically mention McCarthy’s new plan but said he opposes short-term funding bills. He was critical of his party’s strategy so far in the spending fight.
Gonzales said that the House isn’t “debating … real things” and that none of the proposals being floated “have any chance of being taken up in the Senate and signed into law.” (Note: He is correct that the broader Republican spending cuts now being debated will hav a chance of making it through the Senate.)
“We are on track to have a government shutdown,” he added.
There are plenty of other question marks, meaning the number of no votes could even grow. Lawmakers whose stances on the new plan look uncertain include Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Ken Buck (R-Colo.).
As the bill remains in flux, leadership is eyeing potential back-up plans, involving bringing other spending bills to the floor. That potentially includes a largely noncontroversial measure funding the State Department, which already includes steep cuts, per a source familiar.
One GOP member, who requested anonymity, added that leadership could also try to move the Department of Homeland Security spending bill after its second attempt to take up a massive defense bill, which began on Thursday.
Sarah Ferris contributed.
