Race against time: Congress has 11 legislative days to pass stopgap bill or face a government SHUTDOWN amid GOP infighting on Ukraine aid and Biden impeachment

Congress has only a limited number of parliamentary days to pass an emergency funding bill or the government will plunge into a shutdown.

An easy deal is unlikely amid Republican infighting over sending more aid to Ukraine and the timing of opening an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, which is poised to derail negotiations.

There are twelve annual government spending bills that must be passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate before funding runs out at midnight on September 30.

However, to give lawmakers more time to push through longer-term spending bills before 2024, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is working to push an emergency measure known as a “continuing resolution” through early December to avoid a shutdown .

The CR is supported by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who last month called it the way to “work this out.”

But there are only a total of eleven legislative days left on the calendar for Congress to pass the emergency bill to keep the government temporarily funded.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week in Kentucky that he believes there will be a “short-term congressional resolution” that will likely happen in December “as we struggle to figure out exactly what the government’s spending level will be.” will be.’

A bill to fund military construction and Veterans Affairs projects passed the House before the body left for a month-long recess, leaving eleven bills remaining.

All spending bills come out of the House of Representatives and then move to the Senate.

House lawmakers return from their August recess on Tuesday, and they are is expected to first take on the massive defense spending of $886 billion.

The issue of sending more aid to Ukraine will be central to the negotiations.

President Biden has asked Congress to approve an additional $40 billion — including $13 billion in emergency defense assistance, $8 billion in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, $12 billion in disaster relief and $4 billion for the border to combat fentanyl smuggling. to fight.

The White House is urging Congress to pass the stopgap measure to avoid a shutdown while negotiations continue to pass the twelve larger, longer-term spending bills.

But aid to Ukraine is a sticking point that is shaking up the process.

McCarthy has reportedly indicated that the House will attach disaster aid to the relief bill but will not include additional funding for Ukraine.

However, the Senate has strong bipartisan support for sending more money to the war-torn country and will likely pressure the House of Representatives to provide more aid.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Punchbowl News this week that he “understands” McCarthy needs to pass a bill, but that the Senate will send back any piece of legislation without help from Ukraine.

“We have to figure that out,” the Senate leader said this week.

In addition, members of the House Freedom Caucus said in August that they will oppose any spending bill that gives Ukraine a “blank check” in U.S. taxpayer-funded aid.

They say they will also vote against a measure that does not include provisions to address the DOJ’s “weaponization,” targeting of political opponents and the Pentagon’s “woke policies.”

And they want major appropriations cuts of billions of dollars because they are still dissatisfied with the debt ceiling bill, which has not satisfactorily curbed spending.

McCarthy can’t afford to lose more than four Republican votes in his slim Republican majority, so he must make a deal with the Freedom Caucus, which isn’t afraid to shut down the government.

Even if the government shuts down, about 85 percent will still be in business. Those workers who are not considered ‘essential’ will be paid once the government reopens.

The longest shutdown — lasting more than a month — occurred during Trump’s presidency due to disagreements over border wall financing.

Another issue at play is some right-wing conservatives in the House of Representatives who say they will not support any government funding measure without an impeachment investigation into President Biden and his connections to his family’s business dealings.

That has riled more moderate Republicans, who say they shouldn’t be linked.

“They are completely different issues and need to be looked at separately,” Rep. Bob Good of Virginia said this week.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., has threatened to remove McCarthy from his position as chairman if an impeachment inquiry against Biden is not launched.

The lawmaker urged his Republican colleagues to “take the initiative” in investigating the 80-year-old president when they return to Washington next week.

He also said McCarthy “may not have the job for long” if he “stands in the way” of pushing for a trial in Congress over Biden’s ties to his son Hunter’s foreign affairs deals.

Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia also vowed to vote against funding the government if impeachment proceedings had not begun.

And House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said last week that an impeachment inquiry is “imminent.”

McCarthy has said an impeachment inquiry into Joe’s connections to Hunter’s foreign dealings is on the table.

He said that if the Biden administration continues to “withhold” documents, Republicans will “continue to pursue the impeachment inquiry when we return to session.”

The White House has rejected any suggestion that Joe was involved in his son Hunter’s business deals and insists that Biden’s impeachment is politically motivated.

But a new poll released this week found that 61 percent of Americans believe then-Vice President Joe was involved at some level in his son’s affairs.