(Headline USA) House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., warned on Sunday that a potential government shutdown could temporarily halt Republicans’ investigation into the Biden family.
Congress has until Sept. 30 to pass an appropriations bill to avoid a government shutdown. Several conservatives in the House have warned that they will not support a bill unless it includes several Republican priorities on immigration and other matters.
McCarthy recognized the difficulty in coming to an agreement before the Sept. 30 deadline, but pointed out that a shutdown could affect much-needed oversight efforts by House Republicans.
“If we shut down, all government shuts down,” McCarthy told Fox News.
“Investigation and everything else—it hurts the American public,” he added. “But if we’re able to pass our appropriation bills, we’re in a stronger position to remove those Pelosi policies that are locked into law.”
The Republican leader noted how influential Republicans’ investigation has been.
“We did not know of all these times the president lied to the American public,” McCarthy said. “I’ve had Democrats now tell me, they’re very concerned, because they back this president based upon what he told America. And with each turn, we find that was not true.”
The Freedom Caucus, however, has insisted that McCarthy squeeze out more concessions from Democrats due to his failure to secure a number of conservative priorities in the debt ceiling fight earlier this year.
“As Congress continues to work to pass appropriations bills, we must rein in the reckless inflationary spending, and the out-of-control federal bureaucracy it funds,” the group said in a statement this month.
The caucus said that any “support for a ‘clean’ Continuing Resolution would be an affirmation of the current FY 2023 spending level,” and urged Republican leadership to put forward a bill that reverts to fiscal year 2022 spending levels “without the use of gimmicks or reallocated rescissions to return the bureaucracy to its pre-COVID size while allowing for adequate defense funding.”
