A new threat of a government shutdown on Friday November 17, under the new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, is pending.
Johnson has division within the House Republican Conference, and just as former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, he cannot afford to lose more than four votes if all Republicans are present and voting on any budget matter.
And one member could call for a vote to dislodge the new Speaker from his perch, and new chaos and anarchy could reign.
Mike Johnson, an unknown individual until he was elevated to the Speakership, clearly is in above his head, and his extremist views and those of his wife are an alarm bell in the night.
Johnson wants two separate dates for funding, and he proposes no aid for now to either Israel or Ukraine, so it seems like a no brainer, with five days to go to the budget deadline.
If the government shuts down this Friday, it will cause all kinds of grief in innumerable ways.
The House passed a stopgap bill to keep the government open. The Senate will next need to approve the measure. President Joe Biden is prepared to sign the bill if it is passed by the Senate. The stopgap bill passed the House on a bipartisan basis with a vote of 336 to 95. More Democrats supported the measure than Republicans. Two hundred and nine Democrats voted for the bill, while only 127 Republicans voted for it. Ninety-three Republicans and two Democrats opposed the bill.