“House Republican infighting forced Speaker Kevin McCarthy to pump the brakes on the chamber’s annual defense funding bill Wednesday, with no guarantee party leaders will find the votes to advance it,” Politico reports.
“The right-wing $826 billion defense appropriations bill was scheduled to come to the House floor Wednesday afternoon.
But that plan was scrapped with conservative lawmakers still not on board, leaving the bill short of the support needed to survive an initial procedural vote.”Playbook: “To take a step back, this is a pretty dismal position for McCarthy to find himself in. He’s not stretching to pass a monumental piece of legislation. This is a routine spending bill — one that is typically the least controversial, seeing as it funds troop salaries and otherwise provides for the national defense. If he can’t pass this, what can he pass?”