Facing a shutdown, McCarthy struggles to get his unruly caucus in line

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is struggling to get members of his caucus to approve a stopgap spending measure that would stave off a government shutdown. 

In spite of his efforts, several members of the House Freedom Caucus are threatening to withhold their votes on a continuing resolution that would temporarily fund the government at its current levels as the Sept. 30 deadline approaches.

The Freedom Caucus members are demanding that McCarthy agree to tack on a bunch of right-wing priorities to spending bills. Doing this, of course, would essentially make any bill that comes out of the Republican-led House dead on arrival once it reaches the Democratic-led Senate.

And McCarthy knows this. 

Appearing on Fox News on Sunday, McCarthy said a shutdown would be bad for the American people, but he seemed to offer far-right Republicans an olive branch of sorts if they fall in line. 

“I would actually like to have a short-term CR [continuing resolution], only to make our argument stronger,” he said. “If we shut down — all of government shuts it down, investigations and everything else — it hurts the American public.”

By “investigations,” McCarthy is referring to the House’s relentless investigations searching for evidence that President Joe Biden engaged in corruption worthy of impeachment. And McCarthy’s statement was a clear warning about the dangers of a government shutdown.

With a shutdown looming, many have been threatening for weeks to hold the line if they don’t get what they want in negotiations, like cuts to funding for Ukraine, cuts to the Pentagon’s diversity initiatives and cuts to the Justice Department. And some have downplayed the impact a shutdown would have on Americans. “A lot of people, when the government shuts down, they’re not even gonna know the difference,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said in an interview last week with conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Freedom Caucus members seem undeterred by McCarthy’s warning on Sunday, or the political backlash that could result from a government shutdown.

“We are not going to be distracted by a shiny object saying, ‘If you don’t get this continuing resolution passed, we won’t be able to pursue the impeachment inquiry.’ That’s nonsense,” Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., told Fox Business on Monday.

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., shared an article Monday on X, formerly known as Twitter, on the Freedom Caucus aiming to break the “status quo” with its ultimatums on spending bills. In his tweet, Good said it was time to “fight back.”

Along with that, NBC News reported Tuesday that several Freedom Caucus members are still hoping to use the appropriations process to defund prosecutions of and investigations into Donald Trump. That includes Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, who said he will introduce amendments to eliminate funding for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and special counsel Jack Smith. Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia are demanding Smith’s office be defunded as well.

This exact scenario is why last year I compared McCarthy’s relationship with his GOP caucus to a parent with a car full of children throwing tantrums. The House speaker has been frank with his hard-line Republicans that they can’t have exactly what they want. 

He basically told them the car (i.e., the country) might crash if they don’t settle down. But they’re kicking and screaming nonetheless.