North Carolina Republicans clash over whether House has GOP votes for funding bill

Two North Carolina Republicans are going head-to-head over whether there are enough GOP votes in the House to avoid a government shutdown, just hours before a House floor vote on the stopgap funding bill. 

Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), who is acting as the GOP’s top voter counter this week, told reporters Thursday afternoon he was confident they would have enough Republican support for a continuing resolution (CR), according to Roll Call.

But House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who has repeatedly insisted over the past few days that enough of his members oppose the CR to defeat it, quickly disputed McHenry’s assertion.

“I promise you, he doesn’t have the votes,” Meadows told reporters, as he pulled out a folded-up piece of paper that appeared to show where all the Freedom Caucus members stood on the CR. {mosads}

Meadows said GOP leaders must have some Democratic support if they think they currently have enough votes to pass the CR.

Members of the Freedom Caucus are meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss their strategy on the funding plan, he added.

The intraparty squabble comes as House Republican leadership is still scrambling to lock down the last-minute votes needed to avoid a government shutdown, which will happen Friday at midnight if Congress doesn’t pass a short-term funding bill.

GOP leadership expects the funding bill to pass the House later Thursday, albeit narrowly. But there’s greater uncertainty in the Senate, where Democrats and even some Republicans are vowing to oppose the stopgap bill. 

The temporary funding patch has run into resistance on both sides of the Capitol.

Many members of the Freedom Caucus, a band of roughly 30 conservative hard-liners, are worried that the CR will hurt the military. They are also concerned about getting steamrolled in broader, bipartisan immigration negotiations taking place on Capitol Hill.

The Freedom Caucus has been seeking concessions from GOP leadership in exchange for their support on the CR, including more money for defense and a promise that a conservative immigration bill will be brought to the House floor.

Meadows emerged from a meeting with McHenry Wednesday evening saying no deal had been reached.

But many rank-and-file members believe that enough Republicans will end up supporting the CR, which would shift the spending fight — and the blame for any shutdown — to the Senate.