Monday morning news: October 2, 2023

Government funding » Congress has hit the snooze button on a government shutdown. That’s how Democratic Sen. John Fetterman described a stopgap funding bill that lawmakers passed Saturday night. The vote barely beat the buzzer on a midnight deadline.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer:

SCHUMER: Thank you to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their excellent work. The bipartisanship here in the Senate set the tone, and I hope it sets the tone for the future.

The top Republican in the chamber, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said a shutdown would not only halt progress on top conservative priorities, but …

MCCONNELL: It would actually set them back. And in the process, it would saddle the people we represent with unnecessary hardships.

But some Republicans insist they can’t keep rubber stamping massive overspending.

The funding package will pay the government’s bills through November 17th.

Ukraine aid » What the bill will not do is pay for U.S. aid to Ukraine. President Biden wants Congress to act quickly.

BIDEN: They said they were going to support Ukraine in a separate vote. We cannot, under any circumstance, allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted.

Many House conservatives, though say it’s becoming harder to accept Washington writing huge checks for Ukraine while the U.S. southern border remains largely unprotected. And Speaker Kevin McCarthy told CBS’ Face the Nation …

MCCARTHY: I support being able to make sure Ukraine has the weapons that they need, but I firmly support the border first. So we’ve got to find a way that we can do this together.

The speaker, though, stopped short of saying he would block any Ukraine aid bill that does not include funds for the border.

GOP polling » White House hopeful Nikki Haley is among the Republicans who say Washington has a huge spending problem.

HALEY: The reality is, Republicans and Democrats, all of them have been spending taxpayer dollars in a ridiculous way. They just take a budget from last year, add more to it and keep going.

An average of recent polls suggest Haley would perform better head-to-head against President Biden in the general election than either the front-running Donald Trump or second-place Ron DeSantis.

Three polls give Haley a 4-point lead. She’s the only Republican leading Biden outside the margin of error in a hypothetical matchup.

DeSantis said Sunday that Trump’s refusal to take part in debates will catch up to him.

DESANTIS: You’ve gotta show up. You’ve got to earn people’s votes. And if you’re not willing to do that, voters will take notice as we get closer to these contests.

But it hasn’t happened yet. Donald Trump still holds a massive lead among GOP primary voters.

FEINSTEIN » The remains of Senator Dianne Feinstein are back in California.

A military transport plane flew her flag-draped casket from Washington, D.C., back to her home state over the weekend.

Tributes continue to pour in from former colleagues. GOP Senator Lindsey Graham:

GRAHAM: It's okay to be tough and kind. It's okay to be liberal or conservative, but it's even more okay to work for America and that's what she did. We've lost a lot with Diane.

That from CBS’s Face the Nation.

Feinstein died Friday of natural causes at age 90 after more than 30 years in the Senate.

New York flood aftermath » New Yorkers are cleaning up in the Big Apple after relentless rain swamped city streets, flooded basement apartments, and shut down a terminal at LaGuardia Airport.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says her state needs federal aid.

HOCHUL: We need help to help build up our resiliency, help the business owners that had to shut down, help reimburse localities for the overtime in the extra resources they had to expend with emergency teams on the ground.

The storm dumped a record of almost 9 inches of rain on parts of the city on Friday.

Turkey bombing » An explosion shook the city streets in Turkey’s capital Ankara on Sunday when suicide bombers triggered a device in front of government buildings. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

AUDIO: [Speaking Turkish]

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Turkey’s interior minister says two bombers attacked the Interior Ministry building. One died in the blast. Police shot and killed the other.

Two police officers suffered injuries.

A Kurdish militant Marxist group known as the PKK has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Turkish government says its military has responded by destroying more than a dozen PKK targets.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: A preview of upcoming cases at the Supreme Court. Plus, the Monday Moneybeat.

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