Thursday, August 31, 2023

McConnell: House conservatives’ cuts won’t happen in Senate, looming budget fight a ‘big mess’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said at an event in Kentucky on Wednesday that Congress will likely end up passing a short-term spending resolution to avoid a government shutdown.

Lawmakers in the upper chamber are slated to return to Washington from their summer recess Tuesday and will have to hustle to either advance a dozen federal spending measures before the end of the month or produce a continuing resolution that will keep money flowing to the government.

Mr. McConnell described the upcoming spending fight and possibility of a shutdown as a "Pretty big mess." He added that he backs the debt-ceiling deal ironed out earlier this year by President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the spending levels that came with it.

Then the GOP-led House turned around and passed spending legislation with spending levels well below the caps set in the debt-ceiling deal, Mr. McConnell said.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, and Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, have both said they are in favor of a stopgap spending measure.

Mr. McCarthy has said that he hopes to avoid a massive omnibus, which would cram all 12 of the spending measures into one piece of legislation at the end of the year.

Producing a measure to fund the government on the current fiscal year's spending levels will not be an easy task for Mr. McCarthy.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/aug/30/mitch-mcconnell-house-conservatives-cuts-wont-happ/

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