- House Republican leadership canceled a vote originally scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET to advance the stopgap measure to fund the federal government through Oct. 31, according to an updated schedule.
- The United States faces an imminent government shutdown if Congress fails to pass a temporary funding measure before midnight on September 30.
U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks with reporters as he visits the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, September 19, 2023 .
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
The House of Representatives on Tuesday canceled a key planned procedural vote on a temporary government funding bill crafted by Republicans.
House Republican leadership canceled a vote originally scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET to advance a stopgap measure to fund the federal government through Oct. 31, according to an updated legislative calendar released by the Democratic whip Katherine Clark.
The United States faces a government shutdown if Congress fails to pass a temporary funding measure before midnight on September 30.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., supports a temporary funding measure to keep the government running. But he faced opposition from far-right members of the Republican Party.
The main Republican factions in the House reached a tentative agreement Sunday to avoid a shutdown by pairing temporary funding with spending cuts and a border security measure backed by the far right.
But some members of the Republican Party still opposed the spending measure after a conference meeting Tuesday.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, said he would do everything in his power to “bring together a coalition to defeat” the measure, called a continuing resolution.
“We will probably have to endure some degree of shutdown,” said Gaetz, who wants to pass separate appropriations bills to fund government agencies rather than a single temporary measure.
Even if the continuing resolution had been approved Tuesday, it would have no chance of passing in the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority.
There are only six days of session left in the House before the September 30 deadline.