海角大神

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is a man who stays in motion 鈥� enthusiastically greeting tourists at the Capitol, dashing overseas last week to the G7 summit of industrial world leaders, raising funds back home to elect fellow Republicans to the House majority.

But beneath the whirlwind of activity is a stubborn standstill, an imbalance of power between the far-right Republicans who hoisted Mr. McCarthy to the speaker鈥檚 role yet threaten his own ability to lead the House.聽

It鈥檚 a political standoff that will be tested anew as the House returns this week from a long summer recess and Mr. McCarthy faces a collision course of difficult challenges 鈥� seeking to avoid a government shutdown, support Ukraine in the war, and launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

鈥淭hey鈥檝e got some really heavy lifting ahead,鈥� said the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, John Thune, of South Dakota.

Mr. McCarthy, of California, is going to 鈥渉ave his hands full trying to figure out how to navigate and execute,鈥� he said.

Congress has been here before, as has Mr. McCarthy in his nearly two decades in office, but the stakes are ever higher, with Republicans powered by an increasingly hard-right faction that is refusing to allow business as usual in Washington.聽

With former President Donald Trump鈥檚 backing, Mr. McCarthy鈥檚 right-flank pushed him into the speaker鈥檚 office at the start of the year only after he agreed to a long list of conservative demands 鈥� including the ability to call a quick vote to 鈥渧acate the chair鈥� and remove him from office.

That threat of an abrupt ouster hovers over Mr. McCarthy鈥檚 every move, especially now.聽

To start, Congress faces a deadline to fund the government by the end of the month, or risk a potentially devastating federal shutdown. There鈥檚 just 11 working days for Congress to act once the House resumes Tuesday.

Facing a backlash from conservatives who want to slash government funding, Mr. McCarthy may be able to ease the way by turning to another hard-right priority, launching a Biden impeachment inquiry over the business dealings of the president鈥檚 son, Hunter Biden.

For Mr. McCarthy, running the two tracks 鈥� a government funding process alongside an impeachment drive 鈥� is an unusual and politically fraught undertaking.

But starting a formal impeachment inquiry into Mr. Biden could help to appease Republican allies of Mr. Trump, who has emerged as the GOP frontrunner to confront Mr. Biden in the 2024 election for the White House.

鈥淗e鈥檚 being squeezed,鈥� Brad Woodhouse, a veteran Democratic operative, said of Mr. McCarthy. Mr. Woodhouse is now a senior adviser to the Congressional Integrity Project, which is preparing to criticize Republicans over the Biden impeachment.

The White House has said Mr. Biden is not involved in his son鈥檚 business dealings.

But Mr. Trump鈥檚 allies among House Republicans are working furiously to unearth any links between Mr. Biden and his son鈥檚 business as they portray Hunter Biden as trading on the family name for financial enrichment and work to erode public support for the president ahead of the presidential election.

Republicans have not yet been able to produce evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden.

White House spokesman Ian Sams said, 鈥淪peaker McCarthy shouldn鈥檛 cave to the extreme, far-right members who are threatening to shut down the government unless they get a baseless, evidence-free impeachment of President Biden. The consequences for the American people are too serious.鈥�

Meanwhile, what should have been a fairly prescribed process to fund the government after Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Biden negotiated a more than $1 trillion deal earlier this summer over the debt limit, appears to be falling apart. Even a stopgap measure to simply keep government funding at existing levels for a few months while Congress tries to finish the spending bills is a nonstarter for Mr. McCarthy鈥檚 right flank.

Conservatives powered by the House Freedom Caucus are insisting federal spending is rolled back to 2022 levels and they want to add other priorities to the legislation.

If not, they say they will oppose a temporary measure, called a continuing resolution, or CR, to keep the government running.

鈥淲e must rein in the reckless inflationary spending, and the out-of-control federal bureaucracy it funds,鈥� the Freedom Caucus wrote in a statement at the end of August.

With command of dozens of votes, the hard right can deny Mr. McCarthy the support he needs to pass a Republican bill on its own. But relying on Democrats for votes would bring other problems for Mr. McCarthy if he is seen as disloyal to his ranks.

The conservatives want to beef up border security and address what Republicans deride as the 鈥渨eaponization鈥� of the Justice Department鈥檚 prosecutions, including those charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. They also want to end what they call the Pentagon鈥檚 鈥渨oke鈥� policies as the Defense Department tries to provide diversity, equity and inclusion to service personnel.

Signaling the hard road ahead, Trump-ally Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., mockingly reposted one of Mr. McCarthy鈥檚 recent videos welcoming tourists at the Capitol.

鈥淜evin thinking this was the video we needed at this moment is depressingly revealing,鈥� Mr. Gaetz said on social media.

鈥淲e need a SPEAKER not a GREETER.鈥�

Congress also has a pending request from the White House to provide an additional $40 billion on three fronts 鈥� some $21 billion in military and humanitarian relief for Ukraine as it battles the Russian invasion; $12 billion to replenish federal disaster aids after floods, fires, and other problems, including to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl at the southern U.S. border with Mexico.聽

Mr. McCarthy has vowed there won鈥檛 be any 鈥渂lank check鈥� for Ukraine as he works to appease skeptical Republicans who want to end U.S. involvement in overseas affairs, particularly involving Russia.聽

While the shutdown is the more pressing problem for Mr. McCarthy, the Biden impeachment inquiry is his bigger political gamble.

Mr. McCarthy has signaled an impeachment inquiry is coming. But there is 鈥渘o date circled on the calendar,鈥� said a person familiar with his thinking and granted anonymity to discuss it.

Not all House Republicans are eager for impeachment proceedings. 鈥淲e can waste our time on issues that are not important, or we can focus on issues that are,鈥� Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., said Sunday on MSNBC鈥檚 鈥淚nside with Jen Psaki.鈥澛�

Mr. Trump faces his own more serious charges of wrongdoing, including the federal indictments over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election he lost to Mr. Biden and his refusal to return classified documents stored at his Mar-a-Lago estate. He has been indicted four times this year.

Watching from the Senate, which has been working to pass all 12 of the regular bills needed to fund government operations through committees ahead of floor votes starting next week, Republicans hope cooler heads in the House will prevail on all fronts.

Several Republicans have made no secret of their disinterest in impeachment proceedings against Mr. Biden.聽

And GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski said those who don鈥檛 think a federal shutdown of government operations is a big deal ought to visit her state of Alaska and see 鈥渞eal life.鈥�

During a previous government shutdown, Ms. Murkowski said crab fisherman couldn鈥檛 get out in the water because federal permits could not be issued.

鈥淵ou know, we鈥檝e got a lot of things going on here in the Congress right now,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o the House is going to have to sort through their priorities and hopefully, they鈥檙e going to be priorities that are in the best interests of the operations of good governance.鈥�

This story was reported by the Associated Press.