In a last-minute attempt to avoid a government shutdown, House Republicans faced a significant setback on Friday as their short-term spending bill failed to get enough support. With fewer than two days left to fund the federal government, the final vote highlighted deep divisions within the GOP over Speaker Kevin McCarthy's bill, as over 20 Republicans opposed the measure.

House GOP leaders on Friday failed to pass a partisan, short-term spending bill with fewer than two days left to fund the federal government and avoid a shutdown. The final vote was 198 to 232, with more than 20 Republicans crossing the aisle to oppose their own party’s bill.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy pitched the bill as a way for his fellow Republicans to buy time to pass a slate of individual agency spending bills.

The House Republicans who joined Democrats to vote against it included several of McCarthy’s most outspoken antagonists, like Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Eli Crane.

“We actually need a stop-gap measure to allow the House to continue to finish its work, to make sure our military gets paid, to make sure our border agents get paid as we finish the job that we’re supposed to do,” McCarthy told reporters.

The White House blasted the House GOP caucus for engaging in brinksmanship, and dismissed McCarthy’s suggestion that he would not take a paycheck during a shutdown.

“That is theater. The guy who picks up the trash in my office won’t get a paycheck. That’s real,” said Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. “We’re doing everything we can to plead, beg, shame House Republicans to do the right thing,” she added.

The GOP bill would have funded the government through Oct. 31. But it had effectively no chance of passing the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, or of being signed by President Joe Biden.

The Senate passed its own short-term funding bill on Thursday. However, the measure could undergo some amendments before the final vote takes place on Saturday. Republicans in both chambers are demanding more robust border security measures.

As the deadline draws ever closer, federal agencies are preparing for a shutdown that seems inevitable at this point. The Smithsonian Institution announced that it would use funding from the previous year to keep its museums open for another week.

The failure of Speaker McCarthy’s effort to keep the government open, at least temporarily, has brought about a level of uncertainty. Hardline Republican lawmakers opposed his bill because they believed it to be weak when it comes to spending cuts and border security.

To make matters even more dire, the White House rejected the speaker’s attempts to meet with President Joe Biden after he previously walked away from a debt deal. The hardline faction, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), has applied more pressure on McCarthy, even threatening to oust him from his position if he refuses to meet their demands. As the clock continues ticking, the nation is watching to see how this impasse plays out.