TICK TOCK: The government will shut down in two days if Congress can’t pass a funding patch. HOUSE RECESS IS CANCELED Another day. Another blowup. Another new plan. So it goes for House Republicans, who just wrapped up their third conference meeting this week without a clear path toward preventing the federal government from shutting down early Sunday morning. This much they know: They’re going to be here a while. Majority Leader Steve Scalise told colleagues that their October recess, which was scheduled to run till Oct. 17, is canceled as they figure out a way forward. What’s not clear is whether the government will remain closed while they do that. Closing out the nearly two-hour meeting, Speaker Kevin McCarthy urged members to support a short continuing resolution that could come the the floor as soon as tomorrow and give the House GOP space to execute their plan. The new strategy? Inside HC-5, McCarthy and other leaders proposed a five-week sprint through the seven remaining fiscal 2023 appropriations bills. Remember that passing those bills would not reopen the government but rather set up further negotiations with the Senate and White House. As for a stopgap that would keep the government open while those full-year bills are processed? Prospects are highly unclear. Repeated attempts to pass a CR this week failed, culminating in this afternoon’s 232-198 rout, where 21 hard-right Republicans joined with Democrats to reject a conservative one-month patch. Afterward, some House Freedom Caucus members floated the possibility that they could support an even shorter CR, ranging from a few days to two weeks, buying the House time to pass the full-year appropriations bills. They included Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), one of hardliners who has firmly opposed CRs up to this point but told reporters upon exiting the conference meeting that he could be open to a short patch. Another holdout, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), said he did not know “what the magic number is” for the length of a CR that could pass the House but added, “Let’s just stay here and work.” (You don’t say!) Vibe check: Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) captured the frustrations of many rank-and-file Republicans as he beat an early exit from the meeting, railing against the hard-right rebels who have repeatedly upended leadership strategy without, he said, articulating a viable strategy of their own. “The holdouts say, Let's just have the shutdown and we'll work with the appropriations process — and all of a sudden, the messy democracy that makes appropriations process difficult in the first place will somehow resolve itself,’” he said. “It’s a f—king democracy, it’s hard,” Crenshaw added. “And there’s no acknowledgement of that.” On the Democratic side: Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with McCarthy today to discuss putting the 45-day CR that’s expected to pass the Senate over the weekend on the House floor for a vote. “The only way forward is for House Republicans to put the bipartisan continuing resolution that emerges from the Senate on the House floor for an up or down vote,” Jeffries told reporters. Expect plenty more chatter about those exotic procedural options that could allow a small group of Republicans to ally with Democrats and move a bipartisan patch forward — especially after McCarthy appeared to acknowledge the possibility of a discharge petition. — Daniella Diaz, with assists from Sarah Ferris, Jordain Carney and Olivia Beavers
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