Senate GOP skeptical on McCarthy

Senate Republicans are skeptical about House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (Calif.) ability to unify his conference next year. That concern has Republican senators pushing to pass a year-end spending package, including an increase in spending for defense and military assistance for Ukraine. With a narrow majority in 2023, McCarthy’s struggles in lining up 218 votes to become Speaker have underscored the challenges he will face passing spending bills or any other major pieces of legislation next year. Senate Republicans say McCarthy will likely have to rely on Democratic votes to pass spending bills next year to make up for defections within his own conference, which will undercut his negotiating leverage and spark fights with the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Republican senators allied with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) want to avoid a messy political situation at the start of the new Congress, which could put the defense budget and other federal spending priorities in limbo for months. This dynamic may prove decisive in getting a budget deal by the end of December, even though conservatives led by Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) are pushing for a stopgap spending bill that would fund the government at current levels until Republicans take control of the House next year. McConnell’s allies are speaking out against freezing federal spending levels until 2023, when they could be negotiated by the new House GOP majority, at a time when the Senate GOP leader is coming under heavy pressure from conservatives to do just that. Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee who challenged McConnell last month for the top Senate GOP leadership job, wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal Monday urging colleagues to reject an omnibus.