US shutdown looms: Top House Republican Kevin McCarthy faces crucial test

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is facing the biggest challenge of his eight months as the top Republican in the U.S. Congress, as he tries to muster
his fractured caucus to avoid a government shutdown in less than two weeks without losing his speakership.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democratic-led Senate have until Sept. 30 to avoid the U.S.’ fourth partial government shutdown in a decade by passing spending legislation that President Joe Biden can sign into law to keep federal agencies afloat.
But hardline activism on spending, policy and impeachment have split Republicans in the House and slowed the Senate’s path forward on approving bipartisan spending legislation.
Political brinkmanship has begun to attract the attention of Wall Street, with rating agency Fitch citing repeated down-to-the-wire negotiations that threaten the government’s ability to pay its bills when it downgraded U.S. debt rating to AA+ from its top-notch AAA designation earlier this year.