Corrected 8:15 p.m. | The hard-right House Freedom Caucus announced Monday that the group would oppose the stopgap funding measure needed to avert a partial government shutdown next month unless it includes conservatives’ policy priorities relating to overall spending levels, the border, the Justice Department and the military.
The caucus’ position highlights the obstacles that Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., faces next month with just a dozen legislative days after lawmakers return to Washington until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Any controversial add-ons risk losing support from all or almost all Democrats and even some GOP moderates; if all Democrats are present and voting “no,” McCarthy won’t be able to lose more than four votes on his side.
In its statement Monday, the Freedom Caucus said that supporting a “clean” continuing resolution, which typically extends the prior fiscal year’s funding rate, “would be an affirmation of the current [fiscal 2023] spending level grossly increased by the lame-duck December 2022 omnibus spending bill that we all vehemently opposed just seven months ago.”
