Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown on Saturday as the House, in a stunning turnabout, approved a stopgap plan to keep the federal government open until mid-November. After Senate passage, President Biden signed the bill shortly before midnight. In tumultuous day of events on Capitol Hill, a coalition of House Democrats and Republicans voted to pass a plan that would keep money flowing to government agencies and provide billions of dollars for disaster recovery efforts. The bill did not include money for Ukraine despite a push for it by the White House and members of both parties in the Senate, but House Democrats embraced the plan anyway, seeing it as the most expedient way to avoid widespread government disruption. The measure was approved on a vote of 335 to 91, with 209 Democrats and 126 Republicans voting in favor and 90 Republicans and one Democrat in opposition. Senate passage came by an 88-9 vote.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-California) reliance on Democrats to pass the continuing resolution will likely lead to far-right Republican Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) making good on his threat to use a procedural tool — called a Motion to Vacate — to try and strip McCarthy of his office as soon as this week after he relied on Democrats to provide the necessary votes to fund the government. It is possible Gaetz may file a notice of intent to offer a Motion to Vacate as soon as today. At any point in time, a member of the House can introduce a privileged resolution —a designation that gives it priority over other measures — to declare the office of the speaker of the House of Representatives vacant. Once the motion is introduced, the lawmaker can walk onto the House floor and request a vote. Such a request would force House leaders to schedule a vote on the resolution within two legislative days.
For today, the House is expected to reconvene at 12:00 P.M. and at 6:30 P.M. will consider four bills naming post offices under suspension of the Rules as well as H.R. 4502 – Modernizing the Acquisition of Cybersecurity Experts Act of 2023, as amended.
The Senate stands adjourned until 3:00 P.M. tomorrow. Following Leader remarks, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session and resume consideration of the nomination of James C. O’Brien, of Nebraska, to be Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.
