While Rep. Kevin McCarthy turned to Democrats for help passing a stopgap federal funding bill, his fellow Republicans in California were busy trying to

stands

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convention in Anaheim, bantering about the party’s platform and ogling presidential candidates.

McCarthy’s deal to fund the government for the next 45 days passed the House of Representatives with more support from Democrats than Republicans, demonstrating his inability to keep his caucus together on key votes. Ninety Republicans opposed the measure.

The short-term funding bill, which had to pass the Senate and get President Biden’s signature before midnight Saturday to avoid a government shutdown, ended aid to Ukraine.

Attendees at the Republican Party’s state convention were as divided as their representatives in Congress.

Cynthia Kaui, 28, president of San Diego Young Republicans, said the club’s members are divided over whether to send more aid to Ukraine. Support for Ukraine is sharply divided along ideological lines: 62% of conservatives believe the US is doing too much to support the country against Russian invasion, compared to just 17% of liberals, according to a poll by ABC/ Washington Post published this week.

More important than any specific aspect of the spending bill, Kaui said, was that Democrats and Republicans work together to keep the government running.

That’s one thing, generally nationally, that we’ve lost sight of…

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the ability to have discourse and dialogue,” Kaui said. “I ultimately hope that both sides can come together and compromise.”

A government shutdown could negatively impact Republican candidates’ chances in next year’s elections. A Morning Consult Pro poll released Tuesday found that 34% of voters would blame Republicans in Congress, compared to 23% who would put the blame on Biden, and 21% who blame Democrats in Congress would give.

There are times when it’s important for Republicans to take a stand and draw attention to bloated budgets and problematic social programs, Betsy Mahan, chairwoman of the Sacramento County Republican Party, told The Times while speaking in the stood in line for a meeting of a platform committee.

This, she said, was not one of those moments.

There are some people who hold it back during purity testing, she said of the funding. It’s okay to say something, but at some point you have to go along with everyone.

GOP Rep. Randall Jordan of Paso Robles disagreed.

I don’t believe in the big tent. “I believe in a tent that will house like-minded people,” he said.

Jordan, who owns a construction company, said he fires people when there’s a recession or he can’t meet his budget. He acknowledged that a shutdown could endanger some Republicans in swing districts. But something has to be done, he said.

In the short term, I think it could hurt us,” he added. “But I still believe that most of our citizens are conservative, and that will be fine.

Overall, weekend convention attendees seemed more concerned with the spectacle of visiting presidential candidates or local affairs than with the government shutdown battle across the country.

Today, the real threat to us doesn’t even come from Congress on the eve of whatever artificial shutdown debate they’re having at a certain hour today, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told a lunch crowd of about 500 people on Saturday. That is not the real threat we face. The real threat we face in the United States is the rise of that managerial class from our universities to corporate America, to the ultimate model of that managerial class in the administrative state of the current federal government.

Congressgoers in particular were included in a vote Saturday on whether to change the state party platform to make it more welcoming to LGBTQ+ individuals. That effort failed, frustrating some delegates who had hoped the party would drop language that says it is important to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

This will hamper the Republican Party of California as voters question which decade the party is focusing on…the past instead of the future,” said Charles Moran, a Los Angeles County delegate and chairman of Log Cabin Republicans , a national group representing LGBTQ+ conservatives and their group. allies.

Covina Mayor Walt Allen said that as a former FBI employee, he sympathizes with the families facing a possible government shutdown. But he said the government needs to send a message about the huge national deficit.

So I hope there will be a resolution. I know Kevin McCarthy is trying very hard to present a united front and not shut down the government, Allen said, before acknowledging that McCarthy had lost the support of several far-right Republicans in the House of Representatives.

Montecito resident Thomas Cole, 66, who said he plans to run for Congress next year against incumbent Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), said he would be happy if the administration would close, as he hoped. would send a message to voters that they should be concerned about the national debt.

I do not worry

It [a shutdown]

. I’m sorry a few people don’t get their paychecks on time, but in the end they all get paid, Cole said. In my opinion, the government is far too big, so let it close down. Give them a break from spending money.

Congressional Representative Beth Holder said Saturday that she supports McCarthy’s initiative to push through an emergency bill to continue funding the government, without funding for Ukraine.

“I really don’t think the closure is a good idea,” Holder said. Every time we freeze the government, everyone is left in a paralyzed situation.