Mark Wilson
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday dismissed the Senate's bipartisan short-term spending bill that would have provided more time to come up with long-term funding for the federal government, saying he couldn't support a measure that doesn't improve border security.
"I look at the current Senate bill that does nothing to deal with the border security," he said in an interview on CNBC. The immigration issue is "something that Democrats and Republicans want to have done," he said, referring to comments by the governor of Massachusetts and New York City's increased spending on shelter for migrants.
The House speaker has opted to push for a measure that combines four appropriations bills, in hopes of building enough support for a House version of stopgap spending bill. That continuing resolution, or short-term funding bill, would also increase security at the U.S. southern border. The Senate bill includes $6B of aid for Ukraine and $6B for natural disaster relief in the U.S.
"Put your money on me; we're going to get this done," he said on CNBC. Time is running short, though. The last day of the federal government's current budget is Saturday, Sept. 30.
McCarthy has been wrangling with a fractious conference in his drive to avert a government shutdown. In a late-night meeting on Wednesday, he said he would unveil the Republican stopgap plan on Friday, the Associated Press reported, citing some people who were in the room.
Many GOP legislators are either withholding support for the continuing resolution until they can see it or are considering working with Democrats, without McCarthy's support, to propose a bill that would prevent a shutdown, the AP said.
The U.S. Dollar Index slipped 0.5% in Thursday afternoon trading.
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