Parts of the US government are expected to shut down from Sunday after Republican dissidents in the House of Representatives defeated the party’s own stop-gap funding bill in a severe blow to Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
In a tense vote on Friday, 21 Republican rebels voted against McCarthy’s bill that would have funded the government for 30 days, joining all Democrats who opposed it because it included deep cuts to government programmes.
The final vote tally showed 232 House lawmakers opposing the legislation, while just 198 supported it — a humiliating result for McCarthy that further complicates the prospects for a deal to avoid a shutdown and will cast new doubts on his ability to remain as Speaker.