Government at Risk of Shutdown Again After McCarthy Ouster and GOP ‘Civil War’

Congress has less than 40 days to pass 12 departmental appropriation bills needed to avert a government shutdown.

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Sept. 25, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Passage of the annual federal budget could be further delayed after House Republicans voted on Oct. 3 to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his position.

Mr. McCarthy’s ouster increases the chances that Republicans could become further at odds with each other—and Democrats—as Congress has less than 40 days to pass 12 departmental appropriation bills needed to avert a government shutdown.

“Right now it’s all in the hands of the Republican Party; they are in a civil war and are not including the Democrats in making any choices [to fund the government],” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) told The Epoch Times.

“I said to Speaker McCarthy [before he was ousted] we’re ready to work with you, and I know [your party] is trying to kick you out, some of us could help you … but that’s a decision you’ve got to make.”

Ultimately Mr. McCarthy decided not to reach out to Democrats to pass a permanent fix to fund the federal government for a full year and opted for a stop-gap measure, a continuing resolution, that would fund the government until Nov. 17.

The temporary measure angered Democrats by excluding any federal aid to Ukraine, something President Joe Biden pushed for, and also did not sit well with some Republicans like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) who would later lead an effort to oust Mr. McCarthy. Mr. Gaetz introduced the motion to vacate the speaker’s role which passed in a 216–210 vote, with eight Republicans joining every Democrat in the House of Representatives to kick out the speaker.

“Chaos is Speaker McCarthy. Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word,” Mr. Gaetz said on the House floor. “The one thing that the White House, House Democrats, and many of us on the conservative side of the Republican caucus would argue is that the thing we have in common is Kevin McCarthy said something to all of us at one point or another that he didn’t really mean and never intended to live up to.”

Shutdown Could Hinge on Election of Next Speaker

Now, the House needs to elect another speaker—a floor vote is due to happen on Oct. 11—and there’s no guarantee that the vote will occur civilly. Mr. McCarthy was historically elected in a four-day, 15-ballot floor fight and only after providing major concessions to holdouts within his own party.

If a similar battle plays out over the election of the next speaker of the House, it could slow down House efforts to pass the appropriation bills needed to avoid a government shutdown in the coming weeks.

“Make no mistake: this needless and selfish action will stall and set back efforts to hold President Biden accountable for his involvement in his family’s business dealings, to cut spending, or to deliver for working class Americans,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said in a statement after the motion to vacate the speaker’s office was passed.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) answers questions at the Capitol after being ousted as House speaker, in Washington, on Oct. 3, 2023. Win McNamee/Getty Images

The chaos that has played out in Congress between Mr. McCarthy’s ouster and a narrowly avoided government shutdown has also discouraged the faith some voters have in their elected leaders on Capitol Hill.

“I’m just disgusted with the entire thing,” Republican voter Katherine Hendricks of Virginia told The Epoch Times. “I think Trump really needs to come back and clean out the swamp for good this time.”

It’s a feeling that is shared among some unaffiliated voters as well.

“I think Congress doesn’t work anymore and what happened to McCarthy proves that and both sides are guilty of incompetence by not funding the federal government for a year,” Roger Lucero, an Independent voter from Colorado, told The Epoch Times. “We need to just clean house, get rid of them all. At this point I would even say AI could make better decisions than the leaders we have in office.”

Candidates for Next Speaker

What happens next will largely depend on who becomes speaker of the House. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) are the two leading candidates vying for the position.

Both are trying to lock in the 218 votes required to win the job and need the support of the party’s far-right and moderate factions.

Former President Donald Trump is officially backing Mr. Jordan, the pugnacious House Judiciary Committee chairman and longtime Trump defender, to succeed Mr. McCarthy as House speaker.

“Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR long before making his very successful journey to Washington, D.C., representing Ohio’s 4th Congressional District,” President Trump wrote on his Truth Social site in the early hours of Friday. “He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!”

The announcement came hours after Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) said Thursday night that President Trump had decided to back Mr. Jordan’s bid and after President Trump had been in talks to visit Capitol Hill next week as Republicans debate who should be the next speaker following Mr. McCarthy’s stunning ouster.

“After him thinking about it and this and that ... he said he really is in favor of getting behind Jim Jordan,” Mr. Nehls said. “He believes Jim Jordan is right for the job.”

The trip to Washington would be President Trump’s first to the Capitol since leaving office, though Mr. Nehls said it was unlikely the former president would actually do it.

Past Government Shutdowns

Since 1998, Congress has passed an average of five continuing resolutions each year and since 1976 the government has shut down 21 times for at least a day, according to an analysis from the non-partisan Partnership for Public Service.

“The process for funding the government is deeply broken. Once this crisis is resolved, Congress should strongly consider reforms that would prevent situations like these from occurring again, including multiyear appropriations and biennial budgeting,” said the organization’s President and CEO Max Stier.

Legislation to reform Congress to avoid future battles over government funding includes a bipartisan bill, sponsored by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), in addition to a bicameral bill introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va)., that would force lawmakers to stay in Washington until they pass a full appropriations package.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.