The week McCarthy threw everything against the wall – and nothing stuck

McCarthy needs the House to pass a spending bill to avoid a shutdown and give Republicans any hope of exerting influence in negotiations with the Democratic-controlled Senate.

This potential leverage likely diminishes every time McCarthy floats new ideas and tactics, only to be rejected by his own members.

So for those trying to keep track, here’s a look back at all of this week’s fleeting strategies.

Sunday night: McCarthy called a conference call to outline and promote a deal within the fractured party to temporarily fund the government, as well as to revive some conservative border initiatives. But opposition quickly mounted, to the point where the speaker clearly did not have the votes needed for a deal that would cut spending at most federal agencies and keep the government running for a month.

Monday: McCarthy’s ill-fated speech was revealed in its entirety, including sweeping 8 percent cuts in domestic spending but exemptions for veterans and defense. It included disaster aid for states buffeted by floods, storms and wildfires. A key provision that negotiators hoped would attract conservatives, strengthen border control and change asylum and immigration laws.

McCarthy even flirted with the idea of forcing his holdout members to vote on the emerging deal, daring them to oppose it. But that never happened — the careful constellation of priorities aimed at pleasing different corners of the House GOP still wasn’t enough to get the support he needed to follow through on the proposal.

Tuesday: For the second time under McCarthy’s leadership, a procedural vote was halted by Republican discord.

McCarthy wanted to get a single Republican-led spending bill across the finish line, a first step toward fulfilling his promise to pass all 12 standalone bills. But hard-liners blocked the debate, making Pentagon funding — usually an easy sell to conservatives — a casualty of the bitter battle between McCarthy and his conservative detractors.

Wednesday: Feeling like McCarthy is throwing legislative linguini (or Jell-O) against the wall and seeing which sticks have become literal. As Olivia Beavers reported, McCarthy began expressing ideas on a whiteboard during an evening conference and asking members in real time whether they supported this or that idea.

GOP members left the meeting with morale and a plan to move forward on a single spending bill.

McCarthy’s new plan — a $1.47 trillion spending level stopgap funding bill with conservative immigration policies attached to it — has also boosted morale about the approach to a proposal led by the Republican Party to avoid a government shutdown.

THURSDAY: McCarthy’s new plan is already in trouble. More than half a dozen Republicans spoke out against the proposal.

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