Ramaswamy slams House stopgap bill as a ‘deflection’

Entrepreneur and 2024 GOP presidential primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy expressed his negative view of the recently passed stopgap funding bill to keep the government funded on Saturday.

“My first reaction is the reaction it’s been for the last several days, which is this whole debate is a farce. It’s a deflection,” Ramaswamy told reporters following his speech at the California GOP convention.

He added, “Even if the government were gonna shut down, we know what happens every time. They get the back pay, it comes back bigger every time. We need to stop the artificial debate about fake government shutdowns and start having a real debate — how to achieve a true shutdown of the administrative state.”

His answer comes a few days after a recent GOP presidential primary debate in which he fell in support behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, according to a Washington Post survey of people who watched the debate.

The House’s bill attempts to keep the government funded at the same levels it already is through mid-November. It also features $16 billion in disaster relief, but no aid to Ukraine or changes in border policy.

“Just moments ago on the House floor we passed by overwhelming numbers the ability to keep government open for the next six weeks,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in a press conference in the wake of the vote.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y) praised the work of his party to pass the bill.

“This spending bill was a complete and total victory for the American people. And a total defeat for the extreme MAGA Republicans,” Jeffries said in a press conference.