Republicans in Congress and Wall Street investors are holding their breath to see what House Speaker Kevin McCarthy can pull off in the coming days.
But investors are also growing increasingly concerned that a government shutdown wouldand, more broadly, that it would undermine global confidence in America's ability to keep its own government open and operating.
This bill would also likely contain a number of poison-pill policy riders such as border security measures, while providing no emergency funding for Ukraine — a key White House demand. By transforming the House CR into a bill that can win Democratic support and one that Biden would sign if it landed on his desk, senators would then pass the bill and send it back to the House, where McCarthy would have two choices.
Alternatively, McCarthy could refuse to hold a vote on the Senate CR, effectively forcing the government to shut down by killing the only bill that could pass the Senate and that Biden would sign into law. Pressing McCarthy from the other side was Donald Trump, who encouraged his fellow Republicans to demand a bill that strips all funding from federal agencies that are prosecuting the ex-president on 44 criminal counts.