Kevin McCarthy, up to his neck in water in his political shipwreck, took hold of the life preserver of despair this Saturday and launched a Hail Mary.
That expression is used in American football when, losing the game and with just a few seconds left, the quarterback, the so-called field marshal, throws the ball practically from end to end of the grass to see if there is any luck, his receiver catches it and scores the touchdown. (essay) that gives them victory.
After being humiliated on Friday by members of his party, the speaker of the Lower House launched his Hail Mary this Saturday to try to avoid the financial closure of the Government in extremis. The deadline ended in the first second of October 1. So he appealed to the support of his rivals in the face of a problem that he himself caused, “kidnapped” by the blackmail of the rebels inside his house, in the middle of the civil war.
The play went well. He achieved an extension, until mid-November, because the Democrats came to his rescue, to the supreme anger of the Trumpist legislators, the right-wing MAGA ultras, who have already announced their intention to remove him from office.
Its provisional government financing project, for 45 days, which is described as clean (there are no cuts in social and other items), contains 16,000 million for aid due to the impact of catastrophes (a figure that fits with the White House request) , but it does not include anything for Ukraine (liberal request) nor an extra investment for the border (central issue for conservatives).
As this was emergency legislation, McCarthy needed two-thirds of the House in favor. The result left no doubt, 335 to 91. In his analysis, however, there were dark clouds looming for him. Of the 91 who voted no, there was only one Democrat for 90 Republicans, evident proof of the censorship of the speaker within his ranks. This result did not mean the end of the threat of closure, but the end of the danger was close, even if it was in a patch that expired.
The project was then moved to the Senate for ratification, an option to introduce changes. Only then could it go to President Joe Biden's desk for him to sign and the Administration could continue functioning normally today.
White House sources indicated that, in the face of the disaster, this initiative was better than nothing. In the Senate, in the absence of it reaching the floor and there being no member who created unexpected obstacles, there also seemed to be a favorable opinion.
The Republicans, by order of the minority leader, Mitch McConnell, delayed putting to a vote the project that they had already agreed with the other bench, in which there were 6,000 million for Kyiv and nothing extra for the border.
McConnell, one of the great defenders of collaborating with Ukraine, said he was willing to resign temporarily.
In statements to MSNBC, and clarifying that they had not yet met as a party, Democratic Senator Tim Kane also expressed his opinion of voting in favor of this extension. “We have until mid-November to negotiate some cuts and aid for Ukraine,” he stressed.
In an extreme situation, everyone, except the ultras of the Lower House, accepted his resignation to avoid a government shutdown that would affect millions of Americans who work in the Administration and key services such as the army, border patrols, controllers. flights or national parks, a very important source of income for the states in which they are located.
But the clock kept counting down. The United States was hanging almost with both feet in the abyss
