The bipartisan Senate spending billreleased Tuesday is a direct confrontation with the House GOP that risks raising the already high prospects of a government shutdown.
Though the Senate bill shortchanges President Joe Biden’s requests for Ukraine and disaster aid, it delivers far more robust funding for both priorities than some senators had contemplated just 24 hours earlier. It contains none of the spending cuts sought by conservatives and funds the government through Nov. 17 mostly at current levels — all things that House Republicans have declined to endorse.
The proposal also offers nothing to Speaker Kevin McCarthy on border policy, an issue that he’s now demanding must be at the center of any government funding deal to avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1. But senators in both parties said the chamber needs to make a move — and fast — given the dysfunction of the House.
“It seems to change every hour, if not by the minute in the House. So I don’t think they know what they can do at this point. But we know what we can do … and that is to send over a [bill] and see what the speaker can do with it,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said.
Cornyn