You can't scare her.
Firebrand Rep. Lauren Boebert slammed House Speaker Mike Johnson's failed spending plan, claiming it would “ruin our country many times more than Diddy's fanatics.”
Rep. Boebert, R-Colo., was one of 14 House Republicans who broke party lines on Wednesday to vote against a six-month stopgap measure backed by Johnson to avert a government shutdown.
“This continuing resolution, this continuing resolution that we're voting on today, is going to ruin our country many times more than Diddy's fanatics did,” Boebert complained on prison resident Steve Bannon's “War Room” podcast before the vote.
Her “Diddy nut” joke alluded to the accusations against Sean “Diddy” Combs, the disgraced rapper who was arrested Monday on racketeering and sex trafficking charges.
Combs allegedly forced his drugged victims to have sex with male prostitutes in multi-day orgies known as “freak offs.”
He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers also maintain his innocence.
Boebert also denounced the current fight over government funding as “chaos” and “madness.”
Congress is required to fund the government at the start of each fiscal year on Oct. 1 or risk a government shutdown. Some House Republicans have tended to push back against leadership plans for funding the government, frustrated by the process and the budget deficit.
To ease those concerns and avoid a government shutdown ahead of the Nov. 5 election, Rep. Johnson (R-Louisiana) sought to combine a stopgap measure known as a continuing resolution to keep the government funded with the Protecting American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.
The SAVE Act would require voters to show proof of citizenship when voting.
“The SAVE Act is a great bill that would stop illegal immigrants from voting and require them to show voter ID,” Boebert said, outlining her reasons for opposing the sweeping bill.
The House of Representatives passed the SAVE Act in July with the support of five Democrats, but it died in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Former President Donald Trump was a strong supporter of the SAVE Act. Republicans urged “I plan to fight for this bill in the showdown over government funding. But Democrats have slammed the SAVE Act as a failure.”
Last year, a spending furor at the start of the current fiscal year sparked a Republican rebellion that led to the ouster of Johnson's predecessor, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and Congress finally finalized a spending bill for fiscal year 2024 in March (the deadline for submissions was October of the previous year).
In seeking an extension beyond Congress' notorious Christmas recess period, Johnson appears to be betting that Republicans will gain control of the Senate and the White House, allowing him to strengthen his negotiating stance.
But ultimately, the tentative plan failed, being rejected by a vote of 202-220 on Wednesday.
Although Boebert voted against McCarthy's removal, she has not been shy about criticizing House Republican leadership.
In June, she handily won the primary and stuck to her decision to move from Colorado's 3rd to 4th congressional district.
The Centennial Republican narrowly defeated Democrat Adam Frisch in the 2022 general election by just 500 votes after a recount, and Frisch is seeking reelection again.
Frisch and Boebert, who narrowly won reelection in the 2022 midterm elections, face numerous controversies.
Infamously, last September, Boebert was caught on camera getting groped by then-boyfriend Quinn Gallagher during a screening of the film “Beetlejuice” in Denver, Colorado.
Boebert and Gallagher were seen holding hands and blowing e-cigarette smoke into the air, and were eventually kicked out of the theater, with Boebert later apologizing.
She later also ended her romantic relationship with Gallagher, a Democrat.
