Republican chaos in Congress all but assures US government shutdown

Washington: Millions of Americans will be left without pay, travellers could face airport chaos and families may struggle to access much-needed services when government funding is expected to run out this weekend due to infighting in the US Congress.

With only one day left to strike a deal to keep federal funding flowing, hardline Republicans loyal to Donald Trump blew up their own party’s efforts on Friday to avoid a looming government shutdown from October 1.

Frustrated: US speaker Kevin McCarthy is facing ongoing headaches from his right flank.Credit: AP

The move was yet another rebuke to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who made a longshot attempt to pass legislation in a bid to avert the crisis.

But far-right Republicans within his own ranks — the same group who almost tanked his bid to become Speaker in January unless he caved in to their demands — refused to vote for the temporary spending bill, which would have provided an extension to keep federal money flowing.

Hardliners have demanded deeper spending cuts, including cuts to funding to aid Ukraine in its war against Russia, and some have also threatened to oust the embattled Republican Speaker if he turns to Democrats to reach an agreement.

Republican Matt Gaetz talks to reporters just after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s last-ditch plan to keep the government temporarily open collapsed.Credit: AP

While McCarthy last week accused his detractors of wanting to “burn the whole place down”, on Friday he vowed to keep working to “make sure we solve this problem”.

But the infighting makes it almost certain that Congress will miss a midnight deadline on Saturday at 11.59pm (local time) to keep federal money flowing.

In the event of a shutdown, federal workers will be immediately furloughed and many of them will miss out on their pay.

The longer it lasts, the more pain it will inflict. Medicare and social security recipients could face delays and food assistance programs for poor families might be tightened.

Airport workers and air traffic controllers will also not get paid which the Biden administration says will be a “recipe for chaos” given the existing staff shortages across the industry.

And even the White House, which had been planning a busy travel schedule for Biden next month to tout his economic agenda, would have to rethink its strategy as a shutdown would likely curtail the president’s ability to hit the campaign trail.

Speaking at a farewell event for General Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Biden also warned about the impact on US troops.

“Thousands of Defence Department civilian and civilian servants will be sent home. And the longer the shutdown lasts, the harder it will become for military families to pay their bills,” he said on Friday.

“We can’t be playing politics while our troops stand in the breach. It’s an absolute dereliction of duty.”

The stopgap bill McCarthy put up on Friday would have cut nearly 30 per cent to many agencies and also contained severe border security provisions — which is essentially what the hardliners had suggested they wanted.

But in the end, it failed to please enough people on either side of politics: far-right Republicans said it didn’t go far enough, while the White House and Democrats branded it as too extreme.

Ultimately, it was voted down 198-232, with 21 hard-right Republicans voting to sink the package.

Republican Ken Buck, who voted against stopgap funding measure, said the failed effort was a “no confidence vote” in McCarthy.

But others in the party were fuming, singling out right-wingers such as Florida congressman Matt Gaetz — who despises McCarthy and has threatened to oust him — for acting in self-interest rather than for the American people.

“There’s only one person to blame for any potential government shutdown and that’s Matt Gaetz,” Republican Mike Lawler told reporters following the vote. “He is not a conservative Republican. He’s a charlatan.”

In addition to disruptions for federal workers, US debt funding troubles have prompted downgrades of Washington’s sovereign rating by credit-rating agencies, a sign of growing uncertainty by investors.

Fitch Ratings downgraded the US credit rating in August, pointing to an expected increase in government debt over the next three years and a “steady deterioration in standards of governance” over the past two decades.

Standard & Poor’s stripped the US of its AAA rating in 2011 amid earlier funding agreement issues.

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.