Democratic and Republican Senate leaders are looking into the potential of initiating a stopgap spending bill in their chamber to potentially head off the obstructionism in the GOP House caucus that has caused the United States to lose its credit rating, Roll Call reports.

Per the Constitution, all appropriations bills must originate in the House, but Senate leaders note that the rule only applies to bills to raise revenue, not direct spending.  The Senate can also attach an appropriate measure to an existing appropriations bill, but the House only passed one appropriate bit of legislation in the last session–a military construction bill for 2024–and Speaker pro tem Kevin McCarthy has not transmitted the bill to the Senate to prevent them from attaching a stopgap measure to it.  Senators could also resurrect a dormant bill, like the first debt limit increase bill passed by the House, as a zombie host for the measure.

The Senate eyes a move to prevent the intraparty gridlock that has characterized Republican control of the House since Newt Gingrich took the gavel during the Clinton Administration.  Senators worry that the continued mismanagement and effective leadership in the House will lead to a stopgap funding bill that contains so many fever-dream wishes of far-right nihilists that it would be impossible to consider.

Credit bureaus have noted Republican obstructionism as a major factor in downgrading the US’s credit rating, with Fitch specifically noting that “there has been a steady deterioration in standards of governance over the last 20 years” in its most recent notice.