US govt shutdown imminent as hardline Republicans block bipartisan bill

The US government was two days from a partial shutdown, as a handful of hardline House Republicans refused to support a bipartisan stopgap spending bill meant to give lawmakers more time to negotiate a full-year deal.

The National Park Service will close, the Securities and Exchange Commission will suspend most of its regulatory activities, and hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed beginning at 0401 GMT on Sunday if Congress does not pass a spending package that can be signed into law by President Joe Biden before then.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives was due to hold an afternoon vote on a partisan 30-day funding measure known as a continuing resolution, or CR, that is expected to fail on strong opposition from Democrats and a handful of hardline conservatives.

The measure would cut spending to a 2022 level of $1.47 trillion on an annualised basis, impose immigration and border security restrictions, and establish a bipartisan commission to study the US debt.

Democrats warn of impending shutdown

On Friday morning, Democrats warned that the Republican CR would mean a 30 percent spending cut in benefits for poor women and children and a 57 percent cut in resources for battling wildfires. It would increase spending on defence and homeland security.

Hardliners who oppose the measure want Congress to press on instead with full-scale spending legislation for fiscal 2024.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy succeeded in passing three of four bills late on Thursday that would fund four federal agencies.

The bills were written to accommodate hardline conservative demands and stand no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate, though even if they became law, they would not avert a partial shutdown because they do not fund the full government.

The shutdown would be the fourth in a decade and comes just four months after a similar standoff brought the federal government within days of defaulting on its $31 trillion-plus in debt.

'Frustrated'

House Republicans expressed annoyance late on Thursday with their hardline colleagues, who have stymied the process at almost every turn.

"They can't set a fire, call the fire department, turn off their water supply and then blame them for not putting out the fire," Representative Dan Crenshaw said. "That's kind of what's happening right now."

Representative Mike Garcia, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, described himself as "frustrated."

"We don't have a good position going into what would be a negotiation with the Senate," he said.

Representative Richard Neal, the ranking Democrat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, described the appropriations process as "the worst in the 35 years I've been here."

Moderate Republicans are pushing for a vote on their own short-term spending measure, which would also most likely not pass the Senate if it includes the expected harsh border measures that Democrats do not support.

"We are in a mess," Representative Marc Molinaro, a moderate Republican, said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to the situation at the border. "In a bipartisan government, our solution must be bipartisan."