Kevin McCarthy’s Nightmarish Fall Begins

Playbook: “Hanging over everything is a brewing challenge from the right to Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Conservative hardliners who only reluctantly backed him for speaker have spent weeks hearing from unhappy constituents back home — many who are itching for a funding fight and salivating over an impeachment of President Joe Biden.”

“And McCarthy’s plan for the fall — punting a funding fight into December while letting his committee chairs dig further into Biden — is not passing muster with his critics, some of whom are openly threatening a “motion to vacate” (i.e., to oust McCarthy) if he cuts a deal with Democrats to keep the government open.”

Punchbowl News: “We’ve gotten the sense from members of McCarthy’s leadership team over the past week that a government shutdown is quite possible — even likely. One senior House Republican lawmaker told us that there’s a 75% chance of a shutdown after federal agencies run out of money on Sept. 30.”