GOP plays blame game after funding bill failure
by Emily Brooks and Mychael Schnell - 09/14/24 6:00 AM ET
The House GOP’s inability to coalesce around a strategy to address a looming government funding deadline is sparking a blame game among Republicans, after opposition from multiple factions helped thwart Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) strategy to avert a shutdown at the end of the month.
Grappling with his razor-thin House majority, Johnson opted to try the spending plan proposed by hard-liners in the House Freedom Caucus: attach a conservative proposal, a bill to require proof of citizenship to vote, to a six-month extension of funding as an opening salvo to the Democratic-controlled Senate. Former President Trump has also called to condition government funding on the voting bill.
The Speaker, though, was forced to pull a scheduled vote on that legislation this week.
Now, Republicans frustrated with yet another legislative drama defined by GOP infighting are pointing fingers.
“It’s disappointing that we cannot get the majority of our own members to vote for a bill that they all support, which is attached, and support appropriations bill that are lower than their Democratic counterparts and are at the level that the law dictates,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said.
“I have no problem [with] what the Speaker is trying to do, I have a problem that members aren’t supporting what the Speaker is trying,” he added.
Opposition to the bill came from far-flung corners of the conference. Some fiscal hawks — mostly from outside the Freedom Caucus — objected to any funding extension. Defense hawks, headlined by House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), were concerned about the impact the bill will have at the Pentagon. And moderates worried about a shutdown threat so close to the election.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4879434-republicans-frustrated-government-funding-shutdown/
