ICYMI: Extreme House Republicans March Toward a Government Shutdown

Across the United States, local news outlets are reporting on the harmful impacts a potential government shutdown would have on American families, and highlighting that Extreme House Republicans have turned their backs on the bipartisan budget deal President Biden negotiated with Congress earlier this year.

With just days left before the end of the fiscal year, extreme House Republicans are playing partisan games with peoples' lives and marching our country toward a government shutdown that would have damaging impacts across the country.

Read more below:

The Times Record: The Maine Idea: One party owns shutdown politics
[Douglas Rooks, 9/28/23]

In truth, the sole way a shutdown can be averted is for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to finally get control of his caucus. As of this writing, that appears exceedingly unlikely.

The facts are simple. Only Republicans have ever shut down a federal or state government, and only Republicans think it's a good idea.

[…]

Then there's Kevin McCarthy, whose puppy-like eagerness for the job resulted in endless ballots and equally endless concessions to his caucus's crazy faction.

No one seems to remember the budget targets McCarthy agreed to in the debt ceiling deal the extremists now insist he violate. The last, fragile hope is a continuing resolution to somehow return government to normalcy, if not exactly to normal.

Charleston Gazette-Mail: Guest editorial: If shutdown happens, blame catering to extremists
[9/28/23]

A shutdown of the federal government, even if only temporary, would needlessly disrupt the lives of public employees and citizens who depend on government services. But, despite a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill, such a calamity remains all too possible next month.
The explanation is tiresomely familiar: the obstructionism of a small band of hard-line House Republicans. Last week, these dissenters embarrassed Speaker Kevin McCarthy by blocking consideration of a Pentagon funding bill, the second such vote in a week. Opposition from extreme right-wing members is also complicating McCarthy's attempt to advance a continuing resolution, a stopgap measure to keep the government operating after Sept. 30.

SaportaReports Atlanta: Another shutdown, another political dispute, this time intramural
[Tom Baxter, 9/25/23]

With the hardliners in his caucus threatening his job at every turn, McCarthy finds himself in an unenviable position. Then again, that's almost the definition of the job he fought for.

Louisville Courier Journal: White House: Government shutdown could risk food aid for 120K moms, children in Kentucky
[Joe Sonka, 9/25/23]

In Kentucky, a potential shutdown would jeopardize the WIC aid of 24,169 women, 68,821 children and 26,894 infants, according to the White House.

[…]

An additional statement Monday from White House spokesman Ian Sams called attention to the plans of House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio to hold an impeachment hearing Thursday targeting President Joe Biden, calling that a distraction from the pending shutdown and its consequences.

"While Comer and Jordan are focused on baseless political stunts to get themselves attention on Fox News, 300,000 people in Kentucky and Ohio — including vulnerable infants — could lose access to the food assistance they need because of extreme House Republicans' shutdown plan," Sams said.
"Instead of working to avoid the pain they and their extreme House Republican colleagues could inflict on Kentuckians and Ohioans with their shutdown plan, Comer and Jordan are posing for the cameras to attack President Biden with debunked smears — it's D.C. politics at its worst."

KGET Bakersfield: McCarthy options on shutdown endgame shrinking
[Emily Brooks, 9/28/23]

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is running short on viable options to get House Republicans some wins while averting a shutdown.

Outside the House, the Democratic-controlled Senate — with the help of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — has aimed to take the reins on a continuing resolution (CR), advancing a stopgap that Republicans say is dead on arrival in the House.

Inside the House, McCarthy faces roadblocks from multiple corners of his conference that will likely prevent the slim House majority from executing its own short-term funding bill.

Arkansas Democrat Gazette: Congress in crisis mode as shutdown days away
[Staff, 9/28/23]

Biden implored the House Republicans not to renege on the debt deal he struck earlier this year with McCarthy that set the federal government funding levels and was signed into law after approval by both the House and the Senate.

"We made a deal, we shook hands, and said this is what we're going to do. Now, they're reneging on the deal," Biden said late Monday.

But Trump is pushing Republicans to dismantle the deal with Biden. "Unless you get everything, shut it down!" Trump wrote in all capital letters on social media. "It's time Republicans learned how to fight!"

Boston Herald: Healey blasts Republicans for being 'hell bent' on making political statements as shutdown looms
[Chris Van Buskirk, 9/26/23]

Gov. Maura Healey blasted congressional Republicans Tuesday for being "hell bent" on making political statements instead of working to avoid a government shutdown.

With a government shutdown five days away, Congress is moving into crisis mode as Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces an insurgency from hard-right Republicans eager to slash spending even if it means curtailing federal services for millions of Americans.

Healey said it is "it's really frustrating to see who's pulling on Speaker McCarthy and getting him to do this stuff."

Cronkite News: Biggs, Crane join conservatives who block Defense bill, as shutdown looms
[Alexandria Cullen and Adrienne Washington, 9/22/23]

Two Arizona lawmakers were among five GOP House members who broke ranks Thursday and voted to block the Defense authorization bill, the latest twist in a budget fight that could cause a government shutdown in 10 days.

But critics called it less a principled decision and more a fit by fringe lawmakers threatening a government shutdown if they don't get their way.

"'If we don't get what we want, we're ready to shut the government down,'" is how Arizona political consultant Barry Aarons described the votes by Biggs, Crane and the others. "That's just not the way you legislate. You legislate by consensus, and they're not interested in that."

NY1 Spectrum: Hochul implores Congress to avoid government shutdown
[Luke Parsnow, 9/25/23]
"We've been leading on the migrant situation because Republicans have failed time and time again to just roll up their sleeves, work with Democrats, work with the president and have real meaningful immigration reform," Hochul said.

At issue on Capitol Hill is a group of Republicans in the House of Representatives demanding cuts in federal spending.

"Get back to Washington. Do the jobs that the voters sent you to do and stop playing with the future of this country and our state," Hochul said.

Asheville Citizen Times: Blue Ridge Parkway closures, longer airport lines? How would shutdown impact WNC?
[Staff, 9/28/23]

No bathrooms on the Blue Ridge Parkway? Longer lines at Asheville Regional Airport? Closed Asheville child care centers?

While many of these possibilities are still up in the air, the disruptions that come with federal government shutdowns have become unnervingly more familiar. If congressional Republicans fail to reach an agreement by this weekend, the country could see its 22nd shutdown in the last five decades.

WOAI San Antonio: As government shutdown looms we look at how it'll impact San Antonio
[Amanda Henderson, 9/27/23]

"There's a small group of people that are really frustrated about the debt of the country and they're digging their heels in and that's part of the challenge on this negotiation right now," PAX Financial Group CEO Darryl Lyons said.

WLNS Lansing: Looming federal government shutdown
[Rachel Ramsey, 9/28/23]

Scholten says 87% of Michigan's businesses are considered small, and a shutdown would have big implications for them. Federal student loans would also come to a halt. If the shutdown happens, federal workers will be put on furlough and national parks and museums will close.

The impasse, she says, is caused by the Speaker of the U.S. House. Rep. Kevin McCarthy. "When speaker McCarthy came together with President Biden and agreed to continue funding the government," she says. "We agreed that if these appropriations couldn't be resolved through normal order, we would fund the government at 20-23 levels through the next presidential election to avoid partisan bickering and fighting."

Times of San Diego: Rep. Peters Calls Shutdown 'Cruel Stunt' That Will Leave Navy, Marines, Border Patrol Unpaid
[Chris Jennewein, 9/28/23]

The Senate has passed a bipartisan funding resolution, but McCarthy has vowed not to allow a vote on it in the House, where a combination of centrist Republicans and Democrats could pass it.

Freedom Caucus members are demanding lower overall spending that McCarthy agreed to with President Biden earlier this year, more border wall construction, restrictions on the role of the Justice Department and FBI, and no more support for Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.

Former President Trump has urged Republicans to proceed with a shutdown, saying that unless they "get everything," lawmakers should "shut it down."

WLWT Cincinnati: Ohio senators speak out as clock ticks on possible government shutdown
[John London, 9/27/233]

Brown said there are extremist radicals in the government that cause people in central Ohio to not like the government.

"The House is controlled by a number of extremist radicals who want to see their names in print and get attention and play political games," Brown said.

Federal workers here in Cincinnati and around the country are sweating this one out, knowing furloughs could be coming their way in just a few days.

[…]

"It's not hard to find bipartisan compromise if everybody's at the table," Brown said. "But if the Speaker of the House only talks to extremist Republicans, we close the government, and thousands of Ohioans lives are upended, and there's just no excuse for that."