California Republican: Conservatives who blocked Pentagon funding bill are ‘enabling’ China’s Xi

Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) said on Tuesday that the conservative House members who tanked the procedural vote on a Pentagon funding bill were, in effect, “enabling” China’s leader, Xi Jinping. 

“What we just saw, with these five individuals, was them adding, effectively, their name to that list that are enabling Chairman Xi right now,” Garcia told a group of reporters Tuesday following the disappointing rule vote, which saw five Republicans voting with Democrats to sink the rule. 

Garcia, a former Navy fighter pilot, noted the Xi is “looking at this with a sign of relief that we didn’t just get this DoD package to the floor.” 

“The Republican Party is literally the only thing between this reckless administration and the welfare of our troops. So our inability to bring this package to a floor vote because of these five individuals who decided to put their personal agendas ahead of the basic requirements of our troops is extremely upsetting to us,” he added.

Earlier Tuesday, Republican Reps. Dan Bishop (N.C.), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Matt Rosendale (Mont.) and Ken Buck (Colo.) voted against the rule, which prevents the House from debating the legislation on the House floor – a necessary step before the House can vote on the bill itself.

The members who voted against the rule largely claimed they were frustrated by the fact that they still have not seen the total value of all 12 appropriations bills and that they did not want to vote for one funding bill – in this case, the Pentagon bill – without seeing the overall price tag. They claim they have made their position clear for months. 

Speaking to the press with fellow veterans, Garcia described this vote as a “win” for China but said ultimately he was confident members would find a way through this setback.

“I think they’re good Americans, but they’re confused and they just handed a win to the Chinese Communist Party as a result of this vote,” Garcia said about the five members who voted against the rule. “And we’re going to do everything we can to keep the folks at the table, to get people back in line.”

“I think our party our conference will ultimately figure this out, and we’re going win this,” Garcia added. “But this isn’t us versus the Democrats. This isn’t left versus right. This is about our country’s security, and America keeping pace with a very real bear right outside of our tent in the form of China.”