Kevin McCarthy Gets Unexpected Praise From Democrats

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy received unexpected praise from Democrats on Saturday after successfully putting forward a stopgap spending bill to prevent a government shutdown.

The House had, in recent weeks, been struggling to pass a new government funding measure. Due to the GOP's razor-thin majority in the chamber, a small handful of further-right members were able to block several attempts at a continuing resolution (CR), pledging their support for one that would include harsh spending cuts.

On Saturday, the last day before the funding deadline would pass and a government shutdown would begin, McCarthy put forward a "clean" stopgap funding bill forward, lacking any of his party's requested cuts. The bill passed in the House with strong bipartisan support, 335-91, with 209 Democrats voting in favor of it. The measure, which was passed in the Senate by 88-9 and signed into effect by President Joe Biden before midnight, will keep the government funded through mid-November, buying the House more time to negotiate on a long-term funding arrangement.

While the move drew the expected rancor from the further-right House Republicans who had been clashing with McCarthy, it also drew some rare praise from the opposite side of the aisle. Representative Eric Swalwell, a Democrat representing California's 14th District, came to the speaker's defense on Saturday against criticism from GOP members like Matt Gaetz and Andy Biggs.

"I really admire [Speaker McCarthy] for putting clowns like Biggs and Gaetz in an absolute box," Swalwell wrote on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, in response to another post from Biggs who questioned if McCarthy should still be House speaker. "They'll never have the courage to try and remove him. McCarthy has really played them."

"I agree," Representative Daniel Goldman of New York wrote in response to Swalwell. "I didn't think [Speaker McCarthy] had the backbone to stand up to the MAGA extremists, but he did today. Finally, he chose to be Speaker of the whole House, not just Speaker of the MAGA cult. I guess he thinks Gaetz doesn't have the cajones to vacate him."

The two congressmen referenced threats from Florida Representative Gaetz to file motions to vacate McCarthy from the speakership if he did not meet the demands of himself and other MAGA members of the House GOP. In the wake of the stopgap bill passing on Saturday, McCarthy invited Gaetz and others to try it.

"It's alright if Republicans and Democrats work together," the House speaker said. "If somebody wants to make a motion against me, bring it. There has to be an adult in the room."

Newsweek reached out to McCarthy's office via email for comment.

When pressed for comment by Newsweek previously, the White House provided Biden's official statement on the spending bill.

"Tonight, bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate voted to keep the government open, preventing an unnecessary crisis that would have inflicted needless pain on millions of hardworking Americans. This bill ensures that active-duty troops will continue to get paid, travelers will be spared airport delays, millions of women and children will continue to have access to vital nutrition assistance, and so much more. This is good news for the American people."