Animal House
“Speaker Kevin McCarthy began the final day before a government shutdown pinned against the ropes … He ended it still on the ropes, having bucked expectations and passed a spending bill to keep the government open through mid-November — but only after being forced to turn to Democrats for help pushing through the legislation that his detractors denounced as a Republican surrender. In between, there was a game of chicken between the House and the Senate over their competing stopgap spending plans, a fire alarm pulled by a progressive congressman in the Capitol complex, a 50-minute filibuster by the House minority leader as Democrats sought more time to figure out whether they wanted to help pass Mr. McCarthy’s plan, and more threats by Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida and his hard-right cohorts to call a vote to oust the speaker.” NYT (Gift Article): Inside McCarthy’s Shutdown Turnabout That Left His Speakership at Risk. (It would all be almost funny if it weren’t, you know, our actual democracy being endlessly soiled by complete whack jobs.)
+ Vox: Congress just avoided a shutdown. Kevin McCarthy’s fight is just beginning. At this point, this town’s not big enough for Kevin McCarthy and Matt Gaetz. (FWIW, it’s ideally sized for neither.)