Kevin McCarthy Holds the Line Against Democrat Stop-Gap Bill as Conservatives Fight Vaccine Mandate

McCarthy
House Television via AP

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) held the line on Thursday and kept Republicans nearly unanimously against voting for the stop-gap spending bill.

The House voted 221-209 to pass H.R. 6119, or the continuing resolution (C.R.) that would fund the government through February 18.

Only one Republican, the Never Trump Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), voted for the C.R.

House Republicans across the spectrum led the fight against the C.R. as Republicans have cautioned that the C.R. would not fix many of the crises unfolding under President Joe Biden’s administration. This includes soaring inflation, the border crisis, and the supply chain crisis.

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) issued a whip notice Thursday against the C.R., noting that it would  notsolve the Biden crises and even provides funding for Afghan refugees without sufficient vetting:

Further Extending Government Funding Act:
Democrats have been so singularly focused on jamming through their big government tax-and-spend agenda, they have once again failed to address one of the core responsibilities of governing, which is to work with Republicans to fund the government. As a result of Democrats refusal to engage in meaningful negotiations with Republicans, we will consider another short-term continuing resolution that is damaging to our military, fails to address the multiple crises our country is currently facing and is being rushed through at the last minute due to the Democrats’ inability to govern.
  • H.R. 6119 continues appropriations at current levels until February 18, 2022, with limited exceptions.

  • The legislation also provides $7 billion to assist in the resettlement of Afghan refugees, however, fails to address concerns raised on the last CR related to insufficient documentation during the verification process for Afghan refugees.

  • The text of the legislation was not made available for members to review until 8:00 AM this morning, with a vote on final passage expected later this afternoon.

Many Republicans also opposed the C.R. so as to use the prospect of a government shutdown to defund President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate.

This is the second time Republicans united against Democrat policies.

Not a single Republican voted for the $1.7 trillion Build Back Better Act in mid-November after McCarthy delivered a record-setting eight-hour-long speech. McCarthy’s speech successfully delayed the bill’s passage by one day and also broke House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) floor speech record.

The legislation even garnered bipartisan support against the bill as Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) voted against it.

The nearly unanimous vote against the C.R. follows as Democrats and the establishment media have tried to use a feud between Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to dive Republicans ahead of the government funding, debt ceiling, and defense authorization legislative battles.

Despite the media’s focus on the spat, Republicans remained focused and voted against the continuing resolution.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.