House Republicans Overwhelmingly Oppose CR While GOP Senators Split Their Votes

(CNS News) – While only one returning Republican in the House voted in favor last week of the massive spending bill — Continuing Resolution H.R. 1437 — 22 Senate Republicans voted to pass it, keeping the government operating for an additional week while deliberations continue over a bill to fund the government through the end of fiscal year 2023.

Without that one-week extension, the federal government would have shut down on Dec. 17.

Now, House Republicans want to wait until they take the majority on Jan. 3 before they negotiate a massive spending bill.  Democrats, however, want to pass something that could keep the government funded through September 2023.   

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on Tuesday that he wants to pass a short-term bill so the “government doesn’t shut down,” and wait until January to pass something more extensive. “We’re two weeks away, 14 days away from having a stronger hand in negotiations,” he said.

The current CR passed in the House on Dec. 14 by a vote of 224 to 201, with five members not voting. Only nine GOP members in the House (out of 213) voted in favor of the bill, with Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) being the only one of them who is returning to Congress in January.

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In the Senate, the CR passed on Dec. 15 by a vote of 71 to 19 with 10 Senators not voting. (Republicans hold 50 seats in the Senate.)

The following 22 GOP Senators voted in favor of the continuing resolution:

            John Boozman (Ark.)

            Shelley Moore-Capito (W. Va.)

            Bill Cassidy (La.)

            Susan Collins (Maine)

            John Cornyn (Tex.)

            Tom Cotton (Ark.)

            Lindsey Graham (S.C.)

            Chuck Grassley (Iowa)

            Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.)

            Jim Inhofe (Okla.)

            John Kennedy (La.)

            Mitch McConnell (Ky.)

            Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)

            Rob Portman (Ohio)

            Mitt Romney (Utah)

            Marco Rubio (Fla.)

            Richard Shelby (Ala.)

            Dan Sullivan (Alaska)

            John Thune (S.D.)

            Tommy Tuberville (Ala.)

            Roger Wicker (Miss.)

Todd Young (Ind.)

19 GOP Senators voted against the continuing resolution:

            Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.)

            Mike Braun (Ind.)

            Kevin Cramer (N.D.)

            Mike Crapo (Idaho)

            Steve Daines (Mont.)

            Joni Ernst (Iowa)

            Deb Fischer (Neb.)

            Josh Hawley (Mo.)

            John Hoeven (N.D.)

            Ron Johnson (Wis.)

            James Lankford (Okla.)

            Mike Lee (Utah)

            Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.)

            Roger Marshall (Kan.)

            Rand Paul (Ky.)

            Jim Risch (Idaho)

            Mike Rounds (S.D.)

            Ben Sasse (Neb.)

Rick Scott (Fla.)

All 50 Senate Democrats voted in favor of the CR with the exception of Senator Mark Kelly (Ariz.), who did not vote.

The remaining nine GOP Senators also did not to vote:

            John Barrasso (Wyo.)

            Roy Blunt (Mo.)

            Richard Burr (N.C.)

            Ted Cruz (Tex.)

            Bill Hagerty (Tenn.)

            Jerry Moran (Kan.)

            Tim Scott (S.C.)

            Thom Tillis (N.C.)

Pat Toomey (Pa.) 

The Senate has less incentive to postpone the omnibus bill since the Democrats will be maintaining their majority in the Senate in the upcoming 118th Congress.

“So the vote today,” said Representative Chip Roy (R-Tex.) on Dec.14, “is a vote to perpetuate and extend funding for a week to allow a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill in a lame duck Congress.”   

Roy accused the GOP Senators who voted for the CR of “trying to grease the skids” of the omnibus bill.                                                                

In a Dec. 14 press conference, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) blamed “Democrats and big government Republicans” for coming together “to spend money.” 

Paul described the omnibus bill as “a spending bill that has no budget.” 

“It will be a spending bill of thousands of pages long, and no one will have read it,” Paul explained.                                                                                                  

Now that passing the CR has allowed Congress to avoid a government shutdown, they will spend this final week before Christmas finalizing appropriations for the 2023 fiscal year.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters on Dec. 19 that the Senate will vote on the final omnibus bill for fiscal year 2023 “before the end of the week.”

On Dec. 20, McConnell said, “Providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the number one priority for the United States right now according to most Republicans. That’s how we see the challenges confronting the country at the moment.”

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