This DA is terrible: bills passing now means UBI isn’t enough to thump, extensions prevent shutdown, there’s bipartisan commitment, and the main controversy is from within the Republican camp—McCarthy’s PC for passing a single of 12 bills isn’t sapped by a Democrat UBI.

WASHINGTON, July 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed the first of 12 fiscal 2024 spending measures that Congress must enact by Sept. 30 or risk a government shutdown, but Republican infighting over spending levels clouded the path ahead for the other bills.

The House voted 219-211 to approve the $155.7 billion military construction and veterans affairs bill, forwarding it to the Democratic-led Senate, which has already crafted its own version of the legislation.

House Republican leaders had expected to pass two spending bills ahead of a six-week August recess. But disagreements over spending between Republican hardline conservatives and moderates forced them to delay consideration of a $25.3 billion spending bill covering agriculture, rural development and the Food and Drug Administration until September.

House lawmakers, who began departing Washington on Thursday, were due to return on Sept. 12, leaving them only three weeks to enact the remaining 11 appropriations bills and hammer out compromises with the Senate before current funding expires on Sept. 30.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy brushed aside questions about the delay, telling reporters that Republicans would ultimately pass all 12 appropriations bills on time.

"If we've got to take a couple extra days to go through, it's not til Sept 30. We're going to take that opportunity," the California Republican said.

The House and Senate must each pass identical appropriations bills before they can be signed into law by Democratic President Joe Biden and avert a government shutdown.

McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer met to discuss the prospects for compromise spending measures and other legislation on Thursday. The speaker later said they both committed to passing appropriations bills on time and discussed the possibility of early bicameral negotiations.

Schumer, a Democrat, said in a statement to Reuters that the meeting covered many topics, including appropriations, and "We talked about how we want to work together to get things done."

Schumer's office was not immediately available to comment on the meeting.

With the two chambers at least $120 billion apart, some lawmakers expect Congress to avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1 by passing a stopgap measure that would give lawmakers time to negotiate into the fall and winter.