Speaker McCarthy Blasts Rebellious Republicans After Spending Bill Needed Democratic Votes to Pass: ‘I Don’t Want to Be Part of that Team’
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) threw a verbal punch at members of his own party after his last-ditch stopgap spending bill needed Democratic votes to pass, saying that he didn’t want to be part of “that team” that voted against the bill.
The 71-page bill continues government spending at current levels for 45 days, plus additional funding for the FAA and $16 billion in disaster relief funding, in response to a request from President Joe Biden’s administration.
As Saturday’s shutdown deadline has loomed, McCarthy has faced staunch opposition from hardliners in his own party, including Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) ongoing threats to seek his ouster from the speakership. Republicans have slim majority in the House, but the opposition group was large enough to be a stumbling block for the Speaker to get any bill moving forward.
McCarthy had one stopgap bill fail on Friday because he couldn’t win enough Republican votes, and this latest stopgap bill was put forward with an expedited process, meaning it required a two-thirds vote to pass — increasing the pressure on McCarthy.
Democrats complained about the “rushed” timeline to read the new bill and the lack of funding for Ukraine, but in the end, enough of the members from the left side of the aisle voted to support it.
The final vote was 335 to 91, with a total of 209 Democrats and 126 Republicans voting for the bill, and 90 Republicans against it. It now heads to the Democrat-majority Senate
Shortly after the bill passed, McCarthy spoke to gathered reporters touting the provisions of the bill that he has portrayed as giving Congress time to negotiate the thornier budget disputes, like funding for Ukraine and various spending cuts Republicans are demanding.
He described the bill he put forward Friday as one that would “secure our border [and] cut wasteful spending, but I had some members in our own conference that wouldn’t vote for that.”
“So if you have members in your conference that won’t let you vote for appropriation bills, doesn’t want an omnibus, and won’t vote for a stopgap measure — so the only answer is to shut down and not pay our troops, I don’t want to be a part of that team,” said an adamant McCarthy. “I want to be a part of a conservative group that wants to get things done.”
Watch above via CNN.
