Congress Passes 45-Day Stop-Gap Spending Measure, House Ousts Their Speaker

On September 29th, during a rare weekend session, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government operating until November 17th while they continue to debate final spending levels for Fiscal Year 2024. It is common for Congress to pass one or more CRs at the end of the fiscal year to buy more time to iron out the most contentious parts of their spending measures. However, this CR was unique in that it came at a political cost to Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). McCarthy failed to get the Republican votes necessary to pass a conservative spending measure in the House, leading the federal government to prepare for a shutdown. Ultimately, McCarthy opted to bring up a spending measure that garnered bipartisan support and avoided a government shutdown, recognizing it would agitate the far-right members of his caucus and potentially cost him the speakership. Of his decision, he remarked, “If I have to risk my job for standing up for the American public, I will do that." Subsequently, on Tuesday, he was ousted from the speakership by a vote of 216-210, with eight hardline Republicans joining all Democrats to remove him. This is the first time in history that a Speaker has been removed, and until he is replaced no legislative activities can take place in the House. The Republican caucus, which holds the majority, is set to begin deliberating his replacement next Tuesday.