John Fetterman says if ‘jagoff’ Republicans avoid a shutdown – he’ll wear a suit in the Senate: Democrat wades into House GOP warfare – and uses dress code row to ask for more funding for Ukraine

Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman challenged the House to pass a spending bill by promising he would sue if they averted a government shutdown.

Fetterman’s casual attire came into question after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer removed the required Senate business attire of a suit and tie for men.

The freshman senator went on a raucous attack on X after Republicans criticized his clothing. “I think if I take up vaping and catch the pig during a musical, they will make me a folk hero,” Fetterman posted Tuesday, referencing the recent Beetlejuice controversy involving Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. .

“If these idiots in the House stop trying to shut down our government and fully support Ukraine, then I will save democracy by wearing a suit in the Senate next week,” said the senator, whose Carhartt outfit made the the subject of much criticism. scrutiny this week, wrote on

House GOP negotiators on the short-term continuing resolution bill declared it “dead in the water” Wednesday as they planned an emergency all-conference meeting for spending in the afternoon.

“I honestly don’t know what to say to my fellow Republicans other than you’re going to eat a sandwich and you probably deserve it,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told reporters about resisters who refuse. come to the table for an agreement.

House Republicans couldn’t even advance a popular defense spending bill Tuesday – with opposition from five conservatives thwarting efforts to pass just one of the 12 appropriations bills .

So far, only one appropriations bill – for military construction and Veterans Affairs – has passed the House with ten days left before the end of the fiscal year. The Senate passed none.

It is unclear whether they will move forward as planned with a vote on a short-term continuing resolution (CR) that will likely receive even less support than the defense appropriations bill.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy declined to say whether he would introduce the bill Thursday as originally planned. “We’re not going to stop, we’re never going to stop,” he said vaguely.

The CR would push back to October 30 the September 30 deadline, which would trigger the government shutdown.

House GOP negotiators worked Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning to fine-tune a negotiated deal between the right-wing Freedom Caucus and the pragmatic Main Street Caucus to shore up their support after more than a dozen Republicans, mostly from of the Freedom Caucus (HFC), said they would oppose it. .

The deal would have kept funding for Defense and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at 2023 levels and triggered an 8% cut across all other agencies.

It would also institute the provisions of the House Republicans’ border bill, HR 2, in addition to E-Verify. The bill excludes funding for Ukraine and disaster relief.

An amendment proposed by the Republican Study Committee (RSC) would make the CR deal even more conservative – it would cut discretionary spending from $130 billion to $1.47 trillion – a maximum line demanded by some conservatives after its agreement on the Republican debt in the House. cap legislation – the Limit, Save, Grow law.

Roy, who helped write the CR bill, predicted the RSC amendment would not change the course of the deal, as he criticized GOP leadership for not ironing out the details of the fight against spending.

“Leadership should have asked” the questions we have now in July. We should have done this. We shouldn’t have been broken in August for six weeks,” he said. “But we are here.

All this for a bill that wouldn’t pass the Senate — but would give the upper chamber a starting point to work on a deal to keep the government open while lawmakers debate their differences on 12 draft bills. separate appropriations law.

Funding Ukraine is an even bigger ask — McCarthy insisted again Wednesday that such funding would not be part of a stopgap bill meant to keep the government running.

Meanwhile, moderate groups on the right and left have begun coming together to find a way to open up the government, which could bring Republicans and Democrats together for a majority vote in the House.

McCarthy would risk sparking a campaign to oust his presidency if he strikes a deal with Democrats to move forward on spending legislation. But Democrats began courting votes from moderate Republicans on their own continuing resolution that they would force to present a discharge petition.

Even Rep. Darrell Issa, Republican of California, said Wednesday he would vote with Democrats on a “clean” continuing resolution, which would extend funding at the 2023 levels set by the previous Democratic House and Senate, to avoid a closing.

If all Democrats and five Republicans sign a discharge petition, they can bypass the leadership and force a CR to speak.

“Everyone should know that there are more than enough votes in Congress to avoid a shutdown and pass a clean crisis settlement that includes disaster relief and additional funding for Ukraine,” wrote Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., on