Congress has voted to keep the government funded until 11 December, sending a continuing resolution to the president on Wednesday afternoon in what will be John Boehner’s final budget fight as speaker of the House.
The vote powered the “clean” continuing resolution bill through the House of Representatives 277 to 151, including 91 Republican votes. No Democrats voted against the bill, which passed through the Senate on Wednesday morning with overwhelming bipartisan support.
One of those votes was from Representative Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican hotly tipped to replace Boehner as speaker when he steps down at the end of October.
With McCarthy poised to ascend to the speakership as expected, there is already a fight to replace him as House majority leader. The two frontrunners for that job are Representative Tom Price of Georgia and Representative Steve Scalise, the current majority whip, from Louisiana.
Of those two, only Price voted against the funding bill.
Just before the vote, McCarthy – who voted for the bill – posted this on Twitter:
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) September 30, 2015
If he becomes speaker, holding this “team” together will occupy much, if not all, of McCarthy’s time.
It is not known whether this will be Boehner’s last big fight of any kind as speaker. He could theoretically introduce a bill raising the debt ceiling, and continue his run of taking as many of the party’s poison pills as possible before stepping down. This would cement a legacy – but also create further disdain for him within the party’s right wing.
