House paralyzed as Republicans once again fail to take up defense bill, government shutdown looms

The House on Thursday failed for the second time this week to bring up the GOP defense spending bill for debate, in another embarrassing setback for Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Members of a group of Republican hard-liners once again voted against GOP leadership and the majority of their party in a 212-216 vote.

Those five Republicans cited a variety of reasons, all broadly linked to frustration with how McCarthy, R-Calif., has handled the government funding fight.

With this development, McCarthy looks increasingly unable to control the floor, and Congress and the government remain on a path to a government shutdown at the end of the month.

"It's frustrating in a sense that I don't understand why anybody votes against bringing the idea and having the debate," McCarthy vented.

"This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down. That doesn't work," he said.

So, what happens next? McCarthy and GOP leaders hoped a compromise around government funding unveiled Wednesday night would bring all Republicans behind the defense spending bill. That clearly didn't happen.

During a more than two-hour closed door GOP conference meeting Wednesday night, McCarthy outlined a new short-term plan to fund the government that would include deeper cuts, according to several members in attendance.

"We're very close there. I feel like I just got a little more movement to go there," McCarthy told reporters leaving the meeting Wednesday night.

Even if it passed in the House, the Senate wouldn't likely accept the new CR proposal.

Many Republican hard-liners have said they won't vote for a continuing resolution unless it had conservative policies attached, such as language to address "woke policies" and "weaponization of the DOJ."

McCarthy and GOP leaders will be forced to once again to negotiate with the holdouts on the Pentagon bill -- historically the least controversial spending bill -- and may have to modify it. But that may risk alienating moderates.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., for example, demanded Republicans strip some Pentagon funding to Ukraine from the proposal.

ABC News' Ben Siegel and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.