Shutdown Looms As Rift In Republican Conference Intensifies

 An internal dispute among Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives is beginning to boil over and get messy. The rift between the GOP conference's hardline conservatives and its more traditional members is not only increasing the likelihood of a government shutdown, it caused Speaker Kevin McCarthy today to challenge those threatening to oust him to go ahead and try.

In a closed-door meeting this morning, an agitated Speaker McCarthy (R-CA) responded to those trying to hold a possible motion to vacate the chair over his head, saying, 'if you want to file a motion to vacate, file the — expletive — motion!'

"Look, I think there’s a frustration level with Speaker McCarthy," said Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK5) in an interview Thursday afternoon. "This vacate the chair motion that has been held over his head from the very beginning."

Congresswoman Bice, a McCarthy ally, says it's just a very few who question McCarthy's leadership, but she acknowledges it's a few more who are currently making it difficult to get any spending bills -- even a simple stopgap spending measure -- passed.

"We have the majority, we have the votes," she emphasized, "unfortunately, some of our colleagues are unwilling to compromise within our own conference to try to push something forward."

One of the colleagues Bice could be referring to is a fellow member of the Oklahoma delegation, Freedom Caucus member Josh Brecheen, who has clearly stated from his first day in office his concern with the ongoing accumulation of debt -- now up to about $33 trillion.

"A true understanding of the danger we face, the economic security for this nation," said Rep. Brecheen (R-OK2) in an interview Thursday, "is nothing to be kicked down the road to be fixed tomorrow -- we have to start now."

Brecheen wants significant spending cuts and he says they have to start with the new fiscal year on October 1, whether it's with a new budget or a stopgap continuing resolution to keep the government operating..

"The stopgap measure has to be a reform measure," Brecheen stated firmly, "it cannot just be a continuation of the status quo."

Traditionally, continuing resolutions, as the name suggests, continue the current funding levels for a specified period time, but Brecheen and other hard-liners are insisting they will not support such a measure.

But what they want is not what all Republicans want and will certainly not go anywhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

"I think that we need to find a way to compromise and continue to fund government," said Bice, "but right now we have a few individuals in the Republican conference that are not willing to do that."

The House is off Friday for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. They’ll be back Monday and Bice says look for House leaders to put forward a proposal for a continuing resolution.