ouse Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Thursday he planned to put forth another “clean” continuing resolution (CR) next week, with a broader deal already looking unlikely to be finalized in a few legislative days
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But Democrats aren’t sounding all that supportive of another short-term extension, with progressives in the House signaling that delaying this fight even longer isn’t palatable to them. At the end of December, 119 Democrats voted against a CR, and that number could quickly rise next week.
Complicating this legislative discussion is the fact that Congress won’t actually be putting forth a “clean” CR. Sequestration ― the automatic spending cuts that were set in 2011 ― is set to trigger on Jan. 21 absent a deal raising spending caps. When HuffPost asked House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) whether conservatives would support raising the caps temporarily in a CR, Meadows said he’d favor suspending sequestration for only defense. “I don’t know that there is an appetite to increase caps without a better understanding of where our appropriations efforts are headed,” he said.
Former Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) also told HuffPost on Thursday afternoon that he opposed raising non-defense spending caps in a CR as well. “I do not remember the American people electing us to do that,” he said.
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