US government shutdown looks certain after hard-right Republicans reject plan

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s last-ditch plan to keep the federal government temporarily open has collapsed as hard-right holdouts rejected the package, making a shutdown almost certain.

Mr McCarthy’s right-flank Republicans refused to support the Bill despite its steep spending cuts of nearly 30% to many agencies and severe border security provisions, calling it insufficient.

The White House and Democrats rejected the Republican approach as too extreme.

The Bill’s failure a day before Saturday’s deadline to fund the government leaves few options left to prevent a shutdown that will furlough federal workers, keep the military working without pay and disrupt programmes and services for millions of Americans.

The outcome puts Mr McCarthy’s speakership in serious jeopardy with almost no political leverage to lead the House at a critical moment that has pushed the government into crisis.

Ahead of voting, the Republican speaker all but dared his hold-out colleagues to oppose the package a day before Saturday’s almost certain shutdown. The House Bill would have kept operations open through to October 31.

“Every member will have to go on record where they stand,” the Republican said at the Capitol.

Asked if he had the votes, Mr McCarthy quipped, “We’ll see.”

As soon as the floor debate began, Mr McCarthy’s chief Republican critic, Matt Gaetz of Florida, announced he would be voting against the package, calling its border security provisions insufficient and urging his colleagues to “not surrender”.

The federal government is heading straight into a shutdown after midnight on Saturday that would leave two million military troops without pay, furlough federal works and disrupt government services and programmes that Americans rely on from coast to coast. Congress has been unable to fund the agencies or pass a temporary Bill to keep offices open.

While the Senate is pushing ahead on Friday with its own widely bipartisan plan favoured by Republicans and Democrats to keep the government open and to bolster Ukraine aid, the House has been in political chaos as the hard-right flank seized control.

The White House has declined Mr McCarthy’s overtures to meet President Joe Biden after the speaker walked away from the debt deal they brokered earlier this year that set budget levels.

“Extreme House Republicans are now tripling down on their demands to eviscerate programmes millions of hard-working families count on,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Ms Jean-Pierre said, “The path forward to fund the government has been laid out by the Senate with bipartisan support — House Republicans just need to take it.”

Catering to his hard-right flank, Mr McCarthy has returned to the lower spending limits it demanded back in January as part of the deal-making to help him become the House speaker.

The package would not cut the Defence, Veterans or Homeland Security departments but would have slashed almost all other agencies by up to 30% — steep hits to a vast array of programmes, services and departments Americans routinely depend on.

It also added strict new border security provisions that would kickstart building the wall at the southern border with Mexico, among other measures. Additionally, the package would set up a bipartisan debt commission to address the nation’s mounting debt load.