According to reporters and Democrats, if the goal is to avoid a shutdown, it's not looking good. The federal government will shut down at 12:01 AM on Saturday, November 18, absent funding bills passed by the House and Senate and signed by President Joe Biden.
“The federal government is once again at risk of shutting down because extreme MAGA Republicans in the House are apparently determined to do just that, unless they manage to extract extreme ransom demands,” says Leader Jeffries, as Punchbowl News' Max Cohen reports.
"THE HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP," Punchbowl's Jake Sherman reports, with alarm emojis, "has abruptly pulled the financial services spending bill. They didn’t have the votes. Second spending bill this week that’s been pulled [because] of lack of GOP support."
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The Wall Street Journal's Richard Rubin observes: "Oddity here is that House Republicans are unified on cutting the IRS budget and the IRS funding from the IRA [Inflation Reduction Act] but -- for the moment and for reasons that may have nothing to do with the IRS -- they can't pass the spending bill that would cut the IRS budget."
"So, to review [government] shuts down next week," Sherman concludes. "You have a new speaker who hasn’t revealed a spending plan. And a house majority that’s yanked two spending bills this week."
Despite being aware that it costs taxpayers billions of dollars when the federal government shuts down, House Republicans have spent their time recently not on working to gain consensus on spending bills to fund the government, but on legislation to attack Democrats.
Thursday morning, the only scheduled vote was on an amendment from New York Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, to cut White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre's salary to $1.
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Rep. Tenney is a 2020 election denier who falsely claimed Americans "don't know if it was stolen or not." On the floor of the House earlier Thursday, she said Jean-Pierre "has repeatedly lied to the American people, and acted in a condescending manner toward reporters, and also violated the Hatch Act."
Tenney's attack on a top Democrat comes on the same day U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a bill to impeach U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. As C-SPAN's Craig Caplan notes, the House has two legislative days to take up the resolution, despite the looming shutdown.
Jean-Pierre and Mayorkas are far from the only Democrats House Republicans have spent time targeting in recent days and weeks.
House Republicans on Wednesday voted on defunding the Office of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Also on Wednesday, House Republicans tried but failed "to slash all funding to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," Politico reported, and tried but failed to reduce to $1 "the salary of SEC Chair Gary Gensler."
House Republicans on Tuesday successfully voted to reduce Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's salary to $1.
House Republicans last week unsuccessfully voted on reducing salaries to $1 "for top-level officials including Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, EPA Administrator Michael Regan and Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning," Politico's E&E News reported. Republicans tried but failed to pass amendments to reduce to $1 the salaries of two other EPA officials.
House Republicans in late September successfully voted to reduce Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's salary to $1.
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Republicans this week also voted on defunding the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, reducing IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel’s salary to $1, and defunding two Offices of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility within the Biden administration, as NCRM reported earlier.
It's been noted that much of this targeting is directed at minorities.
Vice President Harris is the first woman Vice President, the first African-American Vice President, and the first Asian-American Vice President.
Secretary Austin is the first Black Defense Secretary.
Jean-Pierre is the first Black LGBTQ Press Secretary.
Secretary Buttigieg is the first Senate-confirmed out gay Cabinet member.
Secretary Mayorkas is the first refugee and first Latin American Secretary of Homeland Security.
Just two days ago Speaker Johnson told reporters, "I think the American people are encouraged when they see the hard work that’s being done here."
