Kevin McCarthy’s time as Speaker pro tem will be marked by a number of votes to get the title and a clean cut to dethrone him after his disastrous handling of key bills that have been pulled–again–because of deep crevices in the caucus. Per NBC News, a defense funding bill failed to get a simple majority on a motion to open debate as five far-right Republicans joined Democrats to block the move. The bill needs to be passed by the end of the month to continue funding key Pentagon programs.
Later, GOP House leadership pulled a procedural vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government through October 31st that was supposedly a compromise between the far-right Freedom Caucus after a number of Republicans announced they would not support the CR.
South Carolina’s Ralph Norman, one of the five Republicans who voted against the defense bill, did not offer hope for an agreement to fund the government before the September 30th deadline, saying that a shutdown appeared inevitable.