With no clear strategy, no sure support and not much time left to avoid a government shutdown, Speaker Kevin McCarthy nevertheless vowed Wednesday that he would not give up on convincing his colleagues to pass a temporary funding bill through the House of Representatives pass.

But lawmakers watching and waiting for the beleaguered leader to deliver results are looking at other options.

The Republican speaker

of Bakersfield

As he arrived at the Capitol for another grueling day of negotiations, he insisted he still had time to win over hardline conservatives and keep the government funded before the money runs out before the end of the month.

It’s not yet September 30, the game isn’t over yet, McCarthy told reporters.

But even if McCarthy manages to pull off the seemingly impossible and unite his virtually ungovernable Republican majority in the House of Representatives around a conservative spending plan, the victory would be short-lived. The far-right bill, with steep cuts of 8% to many services, would be rejected by the Senate, where Democrats are in control but even Republicans reject the GOP’s severe cuts.

Across the street from the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader

Chuck Charles E.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) opened the chamber in an effort to move forward on a bipartisan plan.

The Senate held a test vote on Wednesday to try to overcome its own far-right flank of Republican senators, but that too failed. Schumer sought to promote consideration of a popular, bipartisan package of defense and military appropriations bills. But Republican senators are joining House Republicans in pushing for stronger cuts.

“It’s yet another reminder that in both houses a small group of far-right Republicans are determined to grind the machinery of government to a halt,” Schumer said.

McCarthy has suffered a series of setbacks this week in his plan to advance Republicans’ spending plans, testing his grip on power amid calls for his resignation.

In defiance of the speaker, a group of five Republican lawmakers from the right-wing House Freedom Caucus joined Democrats to prevent consideration of a usually popular defense bill on Tuesday. The bill would provide pay raises for troops and other measures, but Republicans want a broader discussion about cuts to non-defense budgets.

The House of Representatives is effectively at a standstill, and no business related to the impending government shutdown is being done, as McCarthy said.

from California,

tries to regroup.

The speaker had hoped to rally Republicans around a relief bill that would fund the government over the next month as talks continue. The temporary law would achieve some of the Conservatives’ goals by cutting 8% cuts in many government services, while sparing defense and veterans bills.

The McCarthy package trying to push through the House of Representatives also proposes a long list of conservative policies on immigration and border security that are widely embraced by Republicans.

But the conservative holdouts also want McCarthy to commit to making the cuts longer, for the entire year.

Members are taking this bull by the horns and doing what leadership has failed to do: trying to chart a best path forward to get to 218. [votes]said Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), who is part of the House Freedom Caucus.

As a group of Republican lawmakers huddled for another day at the Capitol on Wednesday to hammer out a plan that would get the 218 Republican votes needed for passage, others are reaching across the aisle to Democrats to try and come up with a bipartisan solution to come.

Two centrist groups, the New Democratic Coalition and the Republican Governance Group, are having their own conversations about how to resolve the impasse, according to a person familiar with the talks who insisted on anonymity to discuss them. Their groups together consist of 145 members.

Rep.

Annie Ann McLane

Kuster (DN.H.), chair of the New Democratic Coalition, said Tuesday that she hoped a coalition of roughly an equal number of Republicans and Democrats would emerge to support a continuing resolution.

These are the people who publicly declare that a shutdown is not good for the country, she said.

So a president is at stake

Joe

Biden’s request to provide another $24 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia, which some lawmakers want to add to bills needed to fund the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, a robust, bipartisan group of senators in the Senate tried to make progress

theirs

own package of three appropriations bills to boost the process.

Senators from both parties tried to show strength as they prepared to negotiate with the House of Representatives over government funding. But Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican allied with the House Freedom Caucus, had halted the Senate’s progress by objecting.

The Senate’s renewed attempt to advance the bill failed again Wednesday as Republicans entered the fray.

It’s not the only fight in the Senate, as senators are reeling from Schumer’s decision to do away with the chamber’s stuffy dress code, in a nod to Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who prefers casual clothes while on the job contributed to recovering from a stroke and depression. .

Fetterman upped the ante on Wednesday: Like those jagoffs

//cq

If you in the House of Representatives stop trying to shut down our government and fully support Ukraine, I will save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week, he said in a statement.