9 House Republicans Break with Party to Help Democrats Pass Spending Bill
On the backs of several lame-duck Republican members, the House on Wednesday passed a resolution to keep the federal government running until Dec. 23 in the hope of passing a massive budget bill by then.
Although the official House Republican position was to oppose the bill, nine GOP representatives supported the package, which passed 224-201, according to The Hill.
Republican Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Chris Jacobs and John Katko of New York, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Fred Upton of Michigan, Steve Womack of Arkansas and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania supported moving the end of the current continuing resolution that funds the government from Friday to Dec. 23, according to the roll call of votes.
Three Republicans and two Democrats did not vote on the bill.
The nine House Republicans who crossed the aisle joined all voting Democrats in backing the measure.
Seven of them – Katko, Kinzinger, Upton, Cheney, Jacobs, Gonzalez and Herrera Beutler — will not be in the new Congress.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise’s office had tried to rally Republicans against the proposal, according to The Hill.
“Once again, House Democrats failed to meet the fundamental duty of funding the government despite spending most of the year passing trillions in wasteful spending that has fueled inflation and driven up our debt,” its message to GOP members said.
“This one-week continuing resolution is an attempt to buy additional time for a massive lame-duck spending bill in which House Republicans have had no seat at the negotiating table,” the message said.
The House is in Democratic hands but will have a GOP majority next month as a new session begins. For that reason, some Republicans want to push back the final votes on the budget for this fiscal year until January.
“We should be passing a continuing resolution into next year instead of buying more time to rush through a massive spending package,” Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, said, according to Roll Call.
Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said the current maneuvering is designed to allow a massive bill to be passed by a Democrat-majority House next week.
“If all 435 of us stood on the steps of the Capitol with our middle finger to the American people, it would be a more honest action than what we’re engaging in here on the floor of the people’s House right now,” Roy said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Senate Republicans are ready to pass a full-year budget bill next week, with some conditions.
“If a truly bipartisan, full-year bill without poison pills is ready for final Senate passage by late next week, then I’ll support it, for our armed forces particularly. Otherwise, we’ll be passing a short-term continuing resolution into the new year,” he said, according to Roll Call.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the bill will include “wins for both sides” that will include “funding for our friends in Ukraine.”
The Biden administration wants the bill to contain $37.7 billion in aid for Ukraine.
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