Senate Democrats put McCarthy in shutdown squeeze
by Alexander Bolton - 09/25/23 5:53 AM ET
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is ramping up the pressure on Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to avoid a government shutdown by moving first on a stopgap funding bill that will pass the Senate next week, a few days before the Sept. 30 deadline.
The Senate’s plan is to send the bill to the House and put pressure on McCarthy to bring it to the floor for a vote it would pass with bipartisan support if given the chance, said senators who are calculating how the endgame will play out.
But Republican and Democratic senators admit they don’t know what McCarthy will do, and some GOP senators are worried about “sticking our necks out” if the stopgap is doomed to fail in the House.
“McCarthy’s made the decision to shut the government down. Period. Stop,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said, previewing the rhetorical offensive Senate Democrats will launch against McCarthy this week.
The Senate is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to take the first in a series of procedural votes that will tee up the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, which Schumer will use as the legislative vehicle to pass the continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4219452-senate-looks-to-maximize-pressure-on-mccarthy-with-government-funding-move/
