Originally published on October 4, 2023, for NAIOP.
At this time last week, most observers of Washington politics believed that a shutdown of federal government operations was all but inevitable, having been inundated with media reports warning of a looming fiscal crisis. The current fiscal year was set to expire at midnight on Saturday, Sept. 30, unless a temporary stopgap measure known as a continuing resolution (CR) was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy had failed to win over a small cadre of far-right conservatives to support versions of a CR that would have funded several Republican priorities such as increased funding for border security.
With only a five-seat margin in the House, McCarthy could not pass a CR without turning to Democrats. For their part, Democrats for weeks had demanded a so-called “clean” CR – one without extraneous policy provisions that would maintain current funding levels for a period of time. As the Senate appeared to coalesce on a funding measure with higher spending levels, House Democrats shifted their preference toward the Senate version. A far-right faction within the House Republican conference, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), had threatened to strip McCarthy of his speaker’s gavel if he relied on Democrats to pass a CR. The conventional wisdom was that McCarthy would not risk his position and a fiscal stalemate would result.