Kevin McCarthy is down to three options and 'none of them are good': report

Time is running out for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to avert a government shutdown and Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman reports that McCarthy has three ways to get himself out of his current jam.

The problem, Sherman notes, is that "none of them are good, and they all come with medium term and long term problems."

McCarthy's "best" option, writes Sherman, is to cave to every single conservative demand about the continuing resolution and just hope he has enough votes to pass it to the Senate, where it will inevitably be torn to pieces.

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The second option would be to work with House Democrats on a bipartisan deal, although this would mean that "his speakership may be over" because right-wing rebels would then oust him as leader.

The third option, which Sherman believes is the most likely to occur, is that McCarthy simply fails to do anything and the government shuts down.

"A senior figure in the leadership said to me last night that this is as bad as its been for House Republicans -- and they were right," Sherman writes. "By the end of [October], it's feasible we'll have a govt shutdown, a vote to boot McCarthy and expiring key programs like the FAA and farm bill."