In a surprise move, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy offered a continuing resolution to fund the federal government at current levels for 45 days. The so-called “clean CR,” which left out provisions for Ukraine military funding and security funding for U.S. border security, provides the House appropriations committees and the House of Representatives additional time to finalize and pass individual spending bills for the various federal agencies. A small group of Republican conservatives in the House had refused to vote for any spending measure offered by the Republican leadership, threatening to remove McCarthy from the speakership if he worked with Democrats to pass a temporary extension, but offered no alternative legislation that would avoid a government shutdown.

The CR passed the House with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, but only after Democratic attempts to derail the effort failed, despite having called for a clean CR. Democrats preferred the higher spending levels in a Senate bill but were hard-pressed politically to vote for a temporary extension of government funding, fearing they would be blamed for the resulting government shutdown. The Senate passed the House bill, which President Joe Biden signed. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL), part of the Republican faction that opposed the CR, has announced he would file a “motion to vacate,” which, if passed, would remove McCarthy from the speakership.