The Hill’s Morning Report — Can House Republicans govern?

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) found himself in yet another circle of hell Tuesday. Lawmakers in both parties are asking whether the House majority can govern. 

The GOP’s escalating discord suggests that keeping the government operating, usually basic governance, is akin to a Gordian knot that McCarthy cannot slice through. Or at least not while keeping his job. 

CONSERVATIVE INFIGHTING forced House leaders Tuesday to pull a key vote on a proposed monthlong stopgap spending bill that would have been dead on arrival in the Senate and at the White House (The Hill). 

Shortly after, House leaders failed to advance a Pentagon spending bill. McCarthy had wanted to pass defense appropriations to eventually strengthen his negotiating posture with Senate appropriators, who say they’re horrified by the feuding, reports The Hill’s Alexander Bolton.  

The usually popular measure was turned back from consideration, 214-212, after five renegade House conservatives helped sink it (The Hill). Worth noting: It was a vote on the rule that sought to bring the bill to the House floor. These are usually straight-party line votes and pass 99.9 percent of the time.  

“This is not conservative Republicanism. This is stupidity. The idea that we’re going to shut the government down when we don’t control the Senate, we don’t control the White House,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) told reporters outside the Capitol. “It’s a clown show. You keep running lunatics, you’re going to be in this position.” 

Lawler represents a congressional district Biden won in 2020. The failure to reach agreement and the focus on impeachment more than the pocketbook issues worries some Republicans who fear Democratic candidates could flip the House or scuttle potential GOP victories next year in the Senate or the presidential contest. 

“We’re waiting to see what the House is going to do on a continuing resolution,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters Tuesday (The Hill). “I think all of you know I’m not a fan of government shutdowns. I’ve seen a few of them over the years. They never have produced a policy change and they’ve always been a loser for Republicans, politically.” 

The White House issued a statement using the words “radical,” “reckless,” and “extreme” to describe GOP aims while highlighting specific federal funding at risk next week. “House Republicans are consumed by chaos and marching our country toward a government shutdown that would damage our communities, economy and national security,” the statement said (The Hill). 

PLAN B? Some Republicans are considering support for a shell bill that could, as soon as next week, serve as the vehicle that would allow moderates to supersede McCarthy’s control of the House floor and force a vote to keep the government open. What goes in that vehicle, a discharge petition, is unknown except that it would include short-term funding intended to garner enough support from House Democrats and the Senate to keep the government funded after Sept. 30 (The Washington Post). 

SHOULD HOUSE FIREBRANDS move to oust McCarthy, Democrats in the House could face a big decision: Save the Speaker who opened an impeachment inquiry into their president, or join Republicans in booting him? Top Democrats say they have not formulated a strategy for handling such a vote, dismissing questions as hypothetical (The Hill). 

McCarthy has brushed aside the idea that his gavel is in jeopardy. Asked on Monday if he thinks he will need support from the other side of the aisle to salvage his Speakership, he responded, “I’m not worried about that.” 

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LEADING THE DAY 

In his annual address to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, President Biden called on his counterparts to defend the idea that powerful nations can’t seize territory from their neighbors, part of a broad appeal aimed at isolating Russia on the world stage (The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal). As support for the war in Ukraine appears to be flagging in the United States and abroad, the president made the case for continuing to supply Kyiv with aid. 

“If we abandon the core principles of the [U.N. Charter] to appease an aggressor, can any member state in this body feel confident that they are protected?” Biden said. “If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure? I’d respectfully suggest the answer is no. We must stand up to this naked aggression today and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow.”  

BIDEN’S CALL FOR AID was echoed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended the General Assembly in person this year and presented Moscow’s aggression as a worldwide unrelenting threat that would not stop at the borders of his country (The Hill and The New York Times).  

“The goal of the present war against Ukraine is to turn our land, our people, our lives, our resources, into a weapon against you, against the international rules-based order,” he said, adding Russia was weaponizing essentials like food and energy “not only against our country, but against all of yours, as well.” 

“INCAPABLE OF COMING TOGETHER”: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday delivered a dire warning that the planet is facing mounting global challenges and geopolitical tensions. Guterres stressed that international cooperation is critical, and ticked off a list of “existential threats” the world is facing, from climate change to disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence. 

“Our world is becoming unhinged. Geopolitical tensions are rising. Global challenges are mounting. And we seem incapable of coming together to respond,” Guterres told the people who run the world’s nations. He said that the United Nations — and the ways that countries cooperate — must evolve to meet the era (The Associated Press). 

While Biden addressed the danger of climate change and the world’s reliance on fossil fuels during his own speech, the first reactions from climate activists to his remarks were not glowing. “President Biden’s U.N. speech rightly recognized the climate dangers of fossil fuels, but Biden ignored his own immense powers to get us off them,” said Jean Su, of the Center for Biological Diversity (The New York Times). 

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Former President Trump wants to finish off Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in Iowa, the GOP’s first-in-the-nation caucus, where the 2024 Republican nomination could lock up around the front-runner and leave rivals in the dust. It’s a must-win state for DeSantis, who trails Trump by double-digits, despite his investment of time in the state (The Hill and The New York Times). 

DeSantis’s top advisers say they’re emulating a stick-with-it strategy that worked for the Republican victors in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Iowa caucuses — although none went on to capture the party’s nomination. 

“Winning an Iowa caucus is very difficult,” David Polyansky, DeSantis’s deputy campaign manager, told the Times. “It takes a tremendous amount of discipline. It takes an incredible amount of hard work and organization, traditionally. So much so that even in his heyday, Donald Trump couldn’t win it in 2016.” 

TRUMP MAY HAVE HANDED DeSantis an opening for momentum on the issue of abortion. On Tuesday, the former president was trying to dig himself out with a boast to conservatives in Iowa and elsewhere that his Supreme Court appointments made it possible to overturn Roe v. Wade and send abortion decisions to the states (The Hill). 

Trump recently called a six-week abortion ban that DeSantis signed in Florida a “terrible thing.” Recognizing that Iowa passed a similar law, DeSantis swiped at Trump Monday during a Radio Iowa interview, saying, “I don’t know how you can even make the claim that you’re somehow pro-life if you’re criticizing states for enacting protections for babies that have heartbeats.” 

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The United Auto Workers say they will expand their historic strike against Detroit’s three major automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — Friday unless “serious progress” is made toward an agreement. In a video posted late Monday, UAW President Shawn Fain gave the companies a deadline of noon Friday, marking a week since the union began strikes at three factories. The union is seeking a wage increase, expanded benefits and more job protections as the industry shifts toward electric vehicles (The Washington Post). 

Even if the striking auto workers don’t get everything they want, now is a great time to try, according to experts. The three Detroit automakers are generating big revenues and profits, fueled by consumer appetites for expensive trucks and SUVs. Biden has characterized himself as one of the most pro-labor presidents. And public favor for organized labor is high, as evidenced by outpourings of support for striking screenwriters and actors.  

“This is as much about timing as it is about anything. The union sees an opportunity, and they’re trying to use it,” Susan Schurman, distinguished professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University in New Jersey, told USA Today. “If not now, when?”  

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And finally … Is there anyone who traveled this summer, especially to Europe, and didn’t comment on the crowding and the costs? The New York Times asked a good question: What has happened to off-season travel?  

Experts say the trend — which in pre-pandemic times was synonymous with fewer travelers, last-minute deals and saner prices — has been altered by flexible work schedules and heat that made “shoulder months” (fall and spring) seem more attractive than July and August. 

“I think we’re at the beginning of a change,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst who runs the firm Atmosphere Research Group based in San Francisco. 

And it’s not just in air travelers. In an August report, Kampgrounds of America found 67 percent of campers had changed their travel plans this year because of the weather. Nearly 64 percent of campers who delayed trips planned to take them after Labor Day. The RV rental platform RVShare said shoulder season reservations have grown twice as fast as those in their core summer season, which it attributes to flexible work policies and efforts to avoid extreme heat. 

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