First appearance on Fox: Some Republicans continue to support the House speaker in the fight over approving the government’s budget and avoiding a government shutdown.
Two House Republicans, who requested anonymity to speak more freely, spoke to Fox News Digital about ongoing negotiations to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government.
The House of Representatives passed the defense spending bill after several Republican opponents, including Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, rejected a bill that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was pushing for passage. It was convened on Thursday after the vote was rejected.
“They took him hostage. And the truth is, they’re not holding him hostage, they’re holding the entire conference hostage,” one lawmaker told FOX News Digital.
He contrasted the six no votes of the 212 House Republicans who supported the bill, saying the no vote from Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, was “procedural.” ” he pointed out.
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The House of Representatives passed the defense spending bill after several Republican opponents, including Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, rejected a bill that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was pushing for passage. It was convened on Thursday after the vote was rejected. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
One of the reasons holdouts rejected the bill was to expand aid to Ukraine.upon On Friday, it was reported that Mr. McCarthy would remove funding for training for the Ukrainian military from the defense spending bill, but on Saturday he appeared to reverse course and said it would remain in the bill.
Mr McCarthy faces the possibility of a motion to abstain against him, but one lawmaker said the resistance has no name in mind for a new speaker.
The congressman said Thursday that Mr. McCarthy has “earned the right to be speaker of the House” and that he would “make a good speaker” if the holdouts “give him a chance.”
Mr McCarthy faces the possibility of a motion to resign against him, but one lawmaker said the resistance has no name in mind for his replacement.
He also said that in the narrowly divided House, Democrats vote as a bloc, making it difficult to pass anything, giving “five hardline Republicans” enough power to stall legislation. I pointed out that I have it.
He said he doesn’t know what the holdouts hope to gain by repealing the appropriations provision, but added: “The goal is to maintain the current budget deficit.”
“This isn’t talked about much,” he said, noting that the national debt has increased “from $27.7 trillion to $33 trillion” under President Biden.
“Since Mr. Biden took office, the debt has increased by $5.8 trillion,” he said. “There’s no reason for that. We’re not at war, we’re not in a recession, and the coronavirus emergency is over.”
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He said the situation is “damaging” to the Republican Party as a whole and that “the chaos that is being created makes it look like the Republican Party cannot govern.”
“But the reality is that 100 percent of Democrats are voting to cause chaos with 2 to 2.5 percent of Republicans,” he said. He told Fox News Digital that Republicans expected “tough negotiations,” but did not expect the push to be “this difficult.”
The congressman said he is not opposed to tough negotiations to cut federal spending, but added that some of the pushbacks appear to be “complacent.”
Mr McCarthy faces the possibility of a motion to resign against him, but one lawmaker said the resistance has no name in mind for his replacement. (C-span)
He said the path forward is a continuing solution with border provisions.
“There are also mayors of sanctuary cities.” [who] They say the borders need to be closed. The right thing to do is to bring to the floor a 30-day continuing resolution that includes most of the elements of HR 2 and close that border. ”
“This madness has to stop, and the American people are with us.” [us on that,]” he added.
“If Democrats don’t accept that, that’s proof that they want a national shutdown, not a border closure,” he said. “It’s very easy.”
Another Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital that he expects the bill to pass when the House reconvenes next week. He noted that the divided government makes the funding bill “a very difficult task,” and added: “I’m not worried in the slightest about a government shutdown at this point.” Stated.
“This is an issue within the Republican conference in the House of Representatives to determine what direction we want to go in,” he said. “This country is so polarized and has so many issues that there are two different directions.”
The congressman said the defense spending bill is Republicans’ “first opportunity” to fund the military and that they “want to fix what we believe is inherently responsive and lethal and join the military.” “It’s something that continues to attract people.”
“I combine that with the border,” the lawmaker said. “Overall, we believe that’s the first or second issue.”
He said negotiations were “just a matter of hearing people’s views now” and that the resistance had met with Mr McCarthy more than four months ago to “see what their numbers are that we need to follow on the budget line.” “We have provided Mr. McCarthy with a written statement of what will happen.” . ”
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“The chairman and the leadership didn’t address that, so it continues to be a big issue,” he said. “And they will continue to vote against it until the Speaker sits down and negotiates with them.”
He said it would be “relatively easy in terms of time” for the House to pass his request, but that the process was “a different matter in the Senate.”
“We need to have some understanding of the long-term perspective, not just the short-term perspective,” he said, adding, “We need to understand how to actually engage with the Senate to not just win, but to keep things in check.” “I think people are becoming short-sighted,” he said. . ”
He also said it was “very clear” that McCarthy “has to make a decision.”
“It looks like he’s going to go down that path to achieve this funding,” the congressman said. “If he doesn’t get the funding, things will fall apart.”
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He also noted that Sen. Bob Menendez (D.N.J.) was indicted for a “second time” in the Senate as the House negotiates federal funding.
“I think the Senate is in disarray. The Senate is in such disarray that even the etiquette of dress has to be relaxed,” the lawmaker said. “That’s how small the U.S. Senate has become.”
“It’s between thugs, it’s between incompetents, it’s between people who are willing to sell state secrets for personal gain,” the lawmaker said. “That’s the Democratic Party.”
