If a shutdown occurs, travelers could face delays at airports, millions of workers would go without paychecks, and public safety, disaster preparedness and response, and food and safety inspections could also be affected.
The new House Republican leader supports a nationwide abortion ban, played a key role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and opposes same-sex marriage.
Trump posts on his Truth Social platform dozens of times a day and his messages there are becoming increasingly angry, violent, and dark, suggesting a second term in the White House could be even more extreme than his first.
It usually takes 218 votes—a simple majority of the 435 members of the House—to become House Speaker, but due to two vacancies, only 217 votes are currently needed. For more than two weeks though, Republicans have failed to agree on a new leader, leaving the federal government paralyzed.
The Republican presidential primary field is full of anti-abortion candidates, but amid massive electoral backlash to abortion bans, some candidates are attempting to backpedal or soften their stances on the campaign trail, or ignore the issue altogether.
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The second debate featured seven candidates, who combined, are trailing frontrunner Donald Trump by a whopping 17 points in the polls, making it a bit of an exercise in futility. But even if the debate is unlikely to affect the outcome of the primary, it says a lot about the state of the Republican party.
House Speaker Kevin MccCarthy has repeatedly tried to pass budget proposals that meet the demands of far-right Republicans, but he has been unable to wrangle the necessary 218 votes to pass any of the 12 annual funding bills necessary to prevent a shutdown.