These 9 House Republicans broke from the party to vote for stopgap funding bill
Nine House Republicans voted with Democrats on Wednesday to pass a stopgap funding bill that will avert a government shutdown, despite GOP leadership recommending a “no” vote.
The House passed the one-week continuing resolution in a 224-201 vote, which will push Friday’s funding deadline to Dec. 23, giving appropriators more time to approve spending for the rest of fiscal 2023.
It now heads to the Senate, which is expected to take up the measure before Friday’s deadline. If passed and signed into law by President Biden, the continuing resolution will keep the government funded at current levels until Dec. 23.
Nine House Republicans crossed the aisle and joined all voting Democrats in backing the measure: Reps. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Liz Cheney (Wyo.), Chris Jacobs (N.Y.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), John Katko (N.Y.), Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.), Fred Upton (Mich.), Steve Womack (Ark.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.).
Herrera Beutler and Womack are both members of the House Appropriations Committee. Kinzinger, Jacobs, Gonzalez, Katko, Upton, Womack and Fitzpatrick voted for the continuing resolution signed into law at the end of September, which kicked the funding deadline to Dec. 16. Lawmakers are now trying to push that back even further.
Kinzinger, Cheney, Jacobs, Gonzalez, Katko, Herrera Beutler and Upton are all leaving the House at the end of this Congress after either opting against running for reelection or losing bids for another term.
The Hill reached out to the nine Republicans for comment on their votes.
A spokesperson for Womack told The Hill on Thursday that the congressman did not believe that a government shutdown was an acceptable alternative to passing the continuing resolution.
That group of Republicans voted for the stopgap bill despite House GOP leadership recommending a “no” vote. The office of House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) sent a notice to all House GOP offices Tuesday night urging members to vote against the continuing resolution.
The notice called the measure “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.”
A contingent of House Republicans have called for passing a continuing resolution into next year that would allow the incoming House GOP majority to have more input in fiscal 2023 spending. Others, however, are holding out for an omnibus spending bill over concerns regarding funding for defense and national security.
The continuing resolution gives appropriators another week to come to a consensus on a full-year spending measure. Negotiators announced an agreement on an omnibus framework Tuesday night, but the details have not yet been revealed.
Notably, the appropriations have not disclosed the top-line figures, which have been a key focus of negotiations.
Updated on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 5:23 p.m.
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