Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) says Republicans who vote for the spending package set to hit the floor Friday are putting the GOP majority at risk in November, as the hardline conservative launches a last-ditch effort to convince his colleagues to vote against the $1.2 trillion bill.
The comment came during a House Freedom Caucus press conference Friday, shortly before the chamber is scheduled to vote on the sprawling bill.
“I want to be very clear: any Republican who votes for this bill, they own it, and they are the ones risking the election,” Roy said.
The Texas congressman brushed aside worries from Republicans about the implications in November if GOP lawmakers march the government into a shutdown.
“It’s the people that are going around saying ‘but oh, we’ll cost the election, oh but what happens if we have a shutdown?’ They’re the ones running in fear rather than leading,” he said.
The spending package — which includes six appropriations bills — will fund a slew of departments and agencies through September, officially putting an end to the appropriations process for fiscal year 2024.
Lawmakers in both parties are claiming wins in the package: Democrats have touted investments in child care and domestic programs, and Republican leaders have pointed to an increase in the number of detention beds for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Conservatives, however, have come out hard against the legislation, criticizing it for the high price tag, the inclusion of various spending priorities, the exclusion of some of their controversial policy riders, and for the way by which leadership brought the measure to the floor.
“Is there anything that some Republicans won’t do to keep this government open? Why are we in a rush to keep this government open that is so harming the American people by the very policies which they are suffering under?” House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-Va.) said Friday.
Congressional leaders unveiled the trillion-plus dollar bill in the middle of the night on Thursday, and top GOP lawmakers waived the 72-hour rule, which hardliners have been adamant about, giving members less than three days to review the text.
Additionally, the legislation is coming to the floor under suspension of the rules, which hardliners abhor. The fast-track process eliminates the need to first pass a rule — which conservatives would likely tank — but it also requires two-thirds support for passage.
“We officially have the swamp’s recipe for the failing of the American people. A massive government funding bill, chock full of wasteful spending, harmful policies and pork projects. Truly, and I mean truly released in the middle of the night, as was mentioned, 2:30 in the morning, giving lawmakers a little more than 24 hours to read an over 1,000-page monstrosity, only to pass it under suspension of the rules, relying on more Democrat votes than Republican votes in a House Republican majority,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) said Friday.
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