Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was all smiles Tuesday evening as he began his press conference to address progress in the House on the appropriations front. As he approached the microphone, he could be heard saying, "Chad...it passed." The Speaker then added:
So, many of you asked the question many times: 'Could you pass the rule?' I understand why you asked the question, but now I just want to let you know that the rule has passed — and let's understand what the rule is. That means we'll be bringing up four of the appropriation bills we've been trying to do since July. Finally, we got the members together to be able to make that happen. If we're able to finish those four — along with the ones we already — that would make it 73 percent of all the discretionary funds that we're supposed to appropriate for this time.
McCarthy also took the opportunity to highlight some of the latest findings in the House investigation into corrupt Biden family business dealings, as well as the crisis at the southern border.
They say a win's a win, and though this is a small win, McCarthy appeared pleased with the progress. As Rebecca Downs at our sister site, Townhall reported:
On Tuesday night, the House managed to pass four spending bills to begin voting on bills to fund various departments, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, Department of State and foreign operations, as well as the Department of Agriculture, rural development and Food and Drug Administration. However, reporting from The Hill referred to these bills as "a small win but doing little to stave off a government shutdown at the end of the month," a point later emphasized in the piece.
The House had previously voted to fund the DoD but failed.
Presumably, the "Chad" to whom McCarthy directed his initial comments was Fox News Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram, who posted a series of tweets about Tuesday's vote.
As noted by Pergram, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was the lone no vote on the rule, with four other House GOP members absent. Still, McCarthy secured enough votes to get the bills advanced. Next move: a continuing resolution (CR), which McCarthy indicated he expects to bring up Friday.
Will the slight progress made Tuesday prompt some of the GOP holdouts to come around and support a CR as a stopgap against the September 30 deadline? House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil (R-WI) is optimistic it will, noting:
I'm optimistic at the end of the day, we can do this with Republican votes. I think broadly speaking, Republicans are unified under the principle of making sure we address like reckless spending and we solve the crisis at the US Mexico border.