Senator Shelley Moore Capito says she’s getting more and more worried as days pass by and the majority in the House of Representatives can’t agree on government funding bills.
“It’s chaos over there, quite frankly,” Capito, R-W.Va., said in a call today with West Virginia reporters.
A Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government and avoid a shutdown is rapidly approaching.
Up against the clock, the Republican-led House of Representatives has been divided about whether to proceed with a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government open until Oct. 31 or whether to push for steeper cuts to federal funding in separate bills.
As a symbol of where matters stand, the House couldn’t muster enough votes today to move toward debate on a defense spending bill that normally flies through. Republican hardliners essentially blocked the bill’s advance.
The Senate has been methodically advancing appropriations bills, with leaders agreeing that a shutdown would be a mess.
“I’m an optimist. I always think we’re going to find a way to work things out,” Capito said in the conference call with reporters. “But the House just turned down the DoD appropriations bill that was written by Republicans, and the Republican conference took it down. I am very concerned about a government shutdown.
“It is a road to nowhere, It’s disruptive to our economy, and I’m very disappointed. Maybe a rabbit will be pulled out of a hat next week when this expires, but right now I’m a little pessimistic.”
This week on MetroNews’ “Talkline,” Congressman Alex Mooney advocated not for the continuing resolution but instead for votes on bills with steeper cuts to federal programs.
The bills would then go to the Democratic-led Senate, where observers believe they would be unlikely to pass.
“We’ve had all year to work on this. So there’s no excuse for going up against the deadline,” said Mooney, R-W.Va., a member of the House Freedom Caucus. “At least pass the bills in the House of Representatives. I get that the Senate’s a different party, that we’d have to go to conference to negotiate; there’s some give and take there. I get that there’s give and take; we don’t have total control.
“But at least pass all these spending bills out of the House and control the spending and the power of the purse. I support that, not a continuing resolution.”
Capito said the failed House vote on the defense spending bill is a signal for how that scenario is actually playing out.
“That’s a defense funding bill that actually does cut funding. Whether I agree with that or not, the numbers are lower in that bill. So the demands of those that say we need to spend less, they’re not backing it up with their votes,” Capito said.
“So I would look over at the Senate, what we’re doing. We’ve passed all 12 bills out of the Appropriations Committee in a bipartisan way. We’re on the path, hopefully, to put three bills up next week together — military construction, agriculture and transportation. That would be the first time we’ve done that in five years.”
Capito noted that the Fiscal Responsibility Act that passed in response to a debt ceiling debate in June already outlined a framework for slowing federal spending for two years.
“The House is not adhering to that. It’s chaos over there, quite frankly, and I don’t think the American people — if we shut the government down and you’re in danger of not getting your veterans check or you’re in danger of not getting your Social Security or you can’t go to the national park because they’re all shut down and it’s a family vacation you planned — there will be a strong reaction against this,” she said.
“So I think the Senate has been functioning better than the House, but I don’t think this needs to be a House against Senate issue. I think it needs to be ‘Let’s get some sense here.'”
Former President Donald Trump posted on his own Truth Social site today a message of encouragement to make deep cuts to federal spending or to embrace a shutdown. A central aspect of Trump’s message was the hope that spending cuts could choke off federal investigations where he is a criminal defendant.
“A very important deadline is approaching at the end of the month. Republicans in Congress can and must defund all aspects of Crooked Joe Biden’s weaponized Government that refuses to close the Border, and treats half the Country as Enemies of the State,” Trump posted.
“This is also the last chance to defund these political prosecutions against me and other Patriots. They failed on the debt limit, but they must not fail now. Use the power of the purse and defend the Country!”
There were two shutdowns during Trump’s presidency — for a few days in January 2018 and then again for 35 days between December 2018 and January 2019, the longest in American history.
Capito said such shutdowns are painful and no one wins.
“I lived through the 2013 shutdown. Total misery, and it went nowhere. I went through President Trump’s shutdown. It went nowhere until President Trump cried uncle and said we can’t do this any more,” Capito said.
“So there are other methods to get your way and your voices hear, and that’s through the legislative process. I’m always optimistic, and there’s still a way to get to a continuing resolution. But the signs are that they want to take it to the limit, and unfortunately the limit is going to hurt a lot of people.”