House lawmakers rejected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s new stopgap funding bill 233-174 Thursday evening.
38 Republicans, including Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, voted against the new continuing resolution (CR), citing their opposition to increasing the debt ceiling without significant spending cuts and allowing $110 billion in disaster aid that has no funding offset.
“We are going to increase the debt ceiling not just 4 trillion — that’s false,” Roy said during floor debate on the spending package. “We’re going to increase the debt by $5 trillion — that’s what’s going to happen right here — by Republicans increasing the debt $5 trillion. And what are you doing in the same bill? $110 billion unpaid for — because you never have any ounce of self respect to go out and campaign, saying you’re going to balance the budget, and then you come in here and pass $110 billion unpaid for?”
“Yes, I think this bill is better than it was yesterday on certain respects,” Roy added. “But to take this bill, to take this bill yesterday, and congratulate yourself because it’s shorter in pages, but increases the debt by $5 trillion is asinine.”
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) December 19, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump urged GOP lawmakers to support the spending package in a Truth Social post on Thursday.
“All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote “YES” for this Bill, TONIGHT,” Trump wrote.
Democratic Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez of Washington and Kathy Castor of Florida were the only Democratic lawmakers to vote in support of the spending package. Democratic Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur voted present.
House Republican leaders’ new spending package would have funded the government through March 2025 and lifted the debt ceiling until 2027. The new 116-page stopgap funding bill was a slimmed-down version of the former spending package, which totaled more than 1,500 pages. The new CR included a one-year extension of the farm bill and $110 billion in disaster aid for victims of Hurricanes Milton and Helene. Provisions in the former CR that gave lawmakers a pay raise, restricted U.S. outbound investment in China and allowed year-round E15 gasoline sales were omitted from the new version. House GOP leadership also struck a one-year authorization for the Global Engagement Center, accused of censoring conservative speech, from the new spending agreement.
The bill failed to get the required two-thirds passage necessary to move legislation under suspension of the rules.
Government funding is set to expire Friday night.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
Read the full article here