Senate and House diverge on strategy as shutdown peril grows

Originally Published: 27 SEP 23 05:04 ET

By Clare Foran, Haley Talbot, Morgan Rimmer and Kristin Wilson, CNN

(CNN) — With just four days before government funding expires, there is still no clear path to avert a shutdown.

The House and Senate are on a collision course with no resolution in sight as the two chambers have diverged over strategy for dealing with the looming deadline when government funding runs out on Saturday at midnight.

The Senate has taken a bipartisan approach – unveiling a stopgap bill on Tuesday negotiated between the two parties to keep the government open through November 17, but there’s no guarantee the measure will pass in the House.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has not committed to bringing the Senate bill up for a vote and has instead outlined a different course of action – saying Tuesday evening that the House will consider a separate conservative stopgap bill with border provisions.

McCarthy indicated this will happen regardless of whether GOP leadership is confident the votes are there to pass it, daring hardliners within his own party to vote against it.

House Republicans have been riven by internal divisions and demands from hardline conservatives have taken center stage as the possibility of a shutdown looms.

“I will bring up the CR regardless – because remember what it is, this is a stopgap funding to keep government open and securing the border. I don’t know anyone who was opposed to that. I think that’s where people would want to be,” he told CNN’s Melanie Zanona. A CR is short for continuing resolution – a short-term funding extension.

On Tuesday evening, McCarthy dismissed the bipartisan Senate stopgap measure, saying, “let me know” when they pass that bill.

As each chamber takes its own path, the odds of a shutdown grow by the day.

In addition to extending government funding into November, the Senate’s bipartisan bill includes $6.2 billion in Ukraine aid and $6 billion for natural disasters. The Ukraine provisions set up another clash with the House as many conservatives do not want to approve more assistance to the war-torn country.

The Senate has its own challenges to face as GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has said he will slow walk any bill with additional Ukraine funding. Without the consent of all 100 members to speed up the time it takes to consider the bill, it’s not clear whether the chamber could pass the measure before the shutdown deadline.

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