McCarthy visibly frustrated after GOP hardliners put his plan to avoid a shutdown on ice

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Speaker Kevin McCarthy sent his House members home for the week without a clear plan to avoid a looming government shutdown after hardliners in the Republican conference once again scuttled his spending plans, delivering an embarrassing floor defeat for GOP leadership for the second time this week.

The Republican leader slammed his far-right flank for wanting to “burn the place down,” after conservatives dramatically bucked McCarthy and GOP leadership on a procedural vote over a Pentagon funding bill, throwing the House into total paralysis. And now, members are not set to return to session until Tuesday as the possibility of a shutdown at the end of next week appears ever more likely.

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Thursday’s failed vote marked yet another blow to McCarthy, who is under pressure and has faced threats of an ouster. The defense funding bill that was derailed typically garners widespread bipartisan support, a sign of how even usually uncontroversial issues have become mired down in Republican infighting.

Days of negotiations have yielded a few apparent breakthroughs, but the speaker’s Republican opponents have been quick to throw cold water on progress and openly defy his calls for unity. McCarthy’s thin margin in the chamber means that in most votes he can only lose four members without any support from Democrats – and absences can raise and lower the majority threshold.

House Republicans had originally planned to be in session over the weekend to pass a stop-gap government funding bill. But that strategy is now on ice amid infighting within the House GOP conference, and House Republican leaders are sending members home for the week amid deep divisions, according to multiple GOP sources.

The new plan, according to multiple lawmakers and aides, is for Republicans to try to complete work on individual, long-term spending bills, since their short-term funding bill did not have the necessary GOP votes amid hardliner opposition.

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