House lawmakers are working late into the night with a new round of budget votes set for Thursday evening. But none of the bills voted on Thursday will represent meaningful progress toward avoiding a government shutdown. None of them stand a chance of passing the Senate even if they squeaked through the House.
Democrats, including Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, have criticized House Republicans' focus on an impeachment inquiry into President Biden while the budget goes unresolved.
Earlier today, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell both took to the Senate floor urging House Republicans to reach an agreement on preventing a government shutdown.
Thursday, 76 members of the Senate voted in favor of another key test vote for a measure that would keep the government open for just a little while longer, giving lawmakers in Washington more time to work out a comprehensive solution for 2024 funding.
It would keep the government open and funded through November 17th, provide an additional $6 billion in disaster relief, and provide an additional $6.2 billion in Ukraine aid.
Utah, Arizona to cover national parks if government shuts down
The economic impact of national parks is so important in Utah and Arizona that leaders there want to invest state funds to keep parks open.
Wednesday, Speaker McCarthy effectively told House Republicans that even if the Senate's able to pass that bill, he wouldn't bring it up for a vote in the House. But Thursday he told reporters that if there's potentially additional border security funding to go along with everything the Senate has worked in so far, he might consider it.
Speaker McCarthy has said that he would put forward his own short-term spending bill to keep the government open, that would contain major cuts to spending as well as additional border security funding that the U.S. Senate would likely not go along with.
