'Belligerent' House Republicans are making it 'almost impossible' to govern: report

It's now 49 days until the November election and the Republican-led Congress is facing another major deadline. If there's no continuing resolution or budget bill passed by Sept. 30, the government will shut down a month before voters go to the polls.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is apparently willing to see a shutdown, saying that Republicans shouldn't cave until they get what they want.

As the Washington Post reported Monday, "House Republicans have been in power for nearly two years — and they're still unable to solve fiscal problems within their ranks."

Read Also:Uncivil war: How Speaker Mike Johnson's dream of bipartisan decency died in his hands

When handed the majority in 2022, and with a speaker swap from Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), Johnson still can't pass a budget, and most bills passed by the House don't make it for a vote in the Senate, the Post reported.

"The belligerent nature of the conference, coupled with a historically narrow majority, has made it almost impossible for any GOP leader to appease each corner of their constituency when nearly every Republican vote is necessary to pass bills along party lines," the report stated.

The House Republicans interviewed by the newspaper made it clear they have little hope of getting anything other than a continuing resolution.

"Let's just be honest: Republican lack of unity has often sent us into negotiations with less leverage than we should have," Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) told the Post. "That is a fact of being in a conference that values rugged individualism over collective action."

They still want to attach a bill that would change voting rules a month before an election. Democrats have made it clear that it's a nonstarter for them.

Even Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) told the Post that trying to hang another bill onto the CR would be a bad idea.

"The speaker tried to deliver," Cole, the Appropriations Committee chairman, said. "And he didn't lose because of people on my committee and people who wanted a shorter CR. He lost because of a disparate group of people who said, 'I don't like the long CR, I want this, I want that.' Come on."

In the end, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who has voted against the CRs, said GOP leaders "would cave at the end."

Meanwhile, Democrats are calling the GOP's bluff.

"If they were serious about what they intend to do, then pass the bill themselves. But they've been unable to do that on their own," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) during his Thursday news conference. "We are simply asking traditional Republicans to partner with House Democrats in a bipartisan way."

Read the full report here.