House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is having some
big problems with his latest attempt to prove he can govern—getting a long-term highway funding bill passed. His problems just got worse, and once again, the
obstacle is the House.
The problem deepened Wednesday, when House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said that the Senate’s six-year highway bill will not get consideration in the House.
McCarthy (R-Calif.), speaking to reporters outside the Republican National Committee headquarters, said "I don't see the Senate" bill "flying in the House."
"This idea of a Senate bill coming together in a last minute that's not long term, that's not paid for, I think brings real doubt to a lot of people," McCarthy said. The topic was discussed at a closed GOP meeting Wednesday in the Capitol Hill Club.
Another potential factor is that the House is scheduled to leave for August recess next week, and they damned well don't want to have to stick around while McConnell figures out his shit and then go through all the necessary back and forth. McCarthy did
make an offer to the Senate: "There's ways to deal with it. You can go to conference. We can do ours." The House bill is another temporary spending measure, only through the end of the year. Members on both sides of the aisle and Capitol Hill have been clamoring for a long-term bill, but this is what the House came up with and leadership seems inclined to stick with.
Many House Democrats are also not willing to sign off on the bill because of its Social Security cuts. "I'll be darned if I'm going to let someone take money that's for Social Security to use it [on highways] because they're not willing to do the right thing to impose a user fee so we can fix our roads," says Rep. Xavier Becerra (CA), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. That makes it pretty unlikely Boehner could come up with enough votes from either side to pass the Senate bill, even if he wanted to.