‘How Can You Say This Is the Democrats’ Fault When You’re in the Majority?’ Blitzer Battles House Republican Amid Failed Funding Vote
Wolf Blitzer tangled with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on Thursday night as the House was in the process of failing to pass a spending bill to avert a government shutdown this weekend.
The legislation required a two-thirds majority to pass because Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) fast-tracked the resolution instead of sending it to the House Rules Committee first. A day earlier, Johnson scrapped another funding bill after Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump came out against the measure. Trump supported the most recent version and urged Republicans to vote for it.
As the vote was happening, Lawler joined The Situation Room on CNN and informed Blitzer he voted for the bill. Lawler blamed Democrats for not joining Republicans to help push it over the two-thirds threshold. It failed 174-235, with 38 Republicans voting against.
“But Congressman, as you well know, there was a bipartisan agreement that was achieved that the speaker worked out with Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House,” Blitzer said to Lawler. “There was a bipartisan agreement that, until Elon Musk and Donald Trump yesterday came out against it, that would’ve passed for sure.”
“Respectfully, you don’t know that it would have passed for sure because it never came to the floor,” Lawler responded.
“There were there was bipartisan support,” the host shot back.
Later, the two had this exchange:
BLITZER: Let’s just point out, Congressman, as of right now, if you take a look at the roll call, 31 of your fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives are voting against this current bill right now. So, how can you say this is the Democrats’ fault when you’re in the majority?
LAWLER: I love you, Wolf, but you gotta stop just trying to defend the Democrats here. The fact is that we have a number of Republicans that have never voted for a continuing resolution, have never voted to lift the debt ceiling. This bill requires two-thirds of the House, not an absolute majority. It requires two-thirds. So, the fact that you have Democrats who normally would vote for this, refusing to do so, not because they disagree with the clean [continuing resolution], not because they disagree with disaster relief, not because they disagree with aid to our farmers. No, they’re doing so because they’re upset that the debt ceiling increase is being taken off the table as leverage for them in future negotiations. That’s what they’re upset about.
Watch above via CNN.
