Republicans in the House of Representatives need to pass a package to fund the American military this month -- but Politico's Playbook reports that they're on the verge of blowing it.
According to Playbook, the proposed $826 billion Pentagon funding bill – which was already seen as dead-on-arrival in the Democratic Senate given its right-wing culture-war provisions related to abortion – has already become "collateral damage" thanks to hardliners in the conference insisting on even deeper spending cuts to the federal budget in exchange for their votes.
"This is a pretty dismal position for [House Speaker Kevin] McCarthy to find himself in," Playbook comments. "He’s not stretching to pass a monumental piece of legislation. This is a routine spending bill — one that is typically the least controversial, seeing as it funds troop salaries and otherwise provides for the national defense. If he can’t pass this, what can he pass?"
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The publication goes on to report that the right-wing revolt over the spending bill shows that his efforts to mollify his hard-right flank by launching an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden has failed and he is still very much in danger of getting pushed out by the likes of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who just on Tuesday delivered a fresh threat to the GOP leader.
