U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) yesterday rejected a stopgap funding bill advancing in the Senate, increasing the chances of a fourth partial shutdown of the U.S. government in a decade with just four days to go, Reuters reported. That would lead to the furlough of hundreds of thousands of federal workers and the suspension of a wide range of government services, from economic data releases to nutrition benefits, until Congress manages to pass a funding bill that President Joe Biden would sign into law. The Senate plan, which advanced on a wide bipartisan margin on Tuesday, would fund the government through Nov. 17, giving lawmakers more time to agree on funding levels for the full fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.-N.Y.) said that the Senate would hold the next procedural vote on its bill on Thursday, unless senators can reach an agreement that would allow them to vote sooner. McCarthy's House of Representatives was focusing its efforts on trying to agree on more of the 12 separate full-year funding bills, of which they have so far passed one.
