House Speaker Kevin McCarthy criticized Republicans on Saturday who opposed his efforts to avoid a government shutdown, saying he doesn’t “want to be part of that team.”
The House of Representatives voted 335-91 to pass a short-term spending bill Saturday to fund the government for 47-days, providing disaster relief requested by the White House, but no aid for Ukraine. Ninety Republicans voted against the bill, along with one Democrat.
“Today wasn’t the choice we wanted to have,” McCarthy said during his remarks after the vote. “We tried to pass the most conservative stopgap measure possible. We put it on the floor, but unfortunately, we didn’t have 218 Republicans who would vote for that, to help us secure the border then.” (RELATED: House Passes Short-Term Government Funding Bill Seeking To Avoid Shutdown)
The House failed to pass a bill Friday that would fund the government until Oct. 31, cut public spending by 8.1285% and included a number of provisions relating to immigration law enforcement and border security. All Democrats opposed the bill, and it failed on a 232-198 vote.
“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,” McCarthy said. “I want to be a part of the conservative group that wants to get things done.”
The House just passed a short-term stop-gap measure that will keep the government open, pay our troops, and fully fund disaster relief. Now, the Senate must act. https://t.co/7I8R6bwK5d
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) September 30, 2023
When asked about whether he is concerned about threats to remove him from his role as speaker, he responded that there “has to be an adult in the room.” “If somebody wants to make a motion against me: bring it,” he said. “There has to be an adult in the room.”
Earlier this month, Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz threatened to make a motion for McCarthy to vacate the chair. Following the vote, some House Freedom Caucus members again questioned McCarthy’s leadership.
“Instead of siding with his own party today, Kevin McCarthy sided with 209 Democrats to push through a continuing resolution that maintains the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer spending levels and policies,” Republican Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs tweeted. “He allowed the DC Uniparty to win again. Should he remain Speaker of the House?”
Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde said that the “McCarthy-Jeffries ‘clean’ CR” passing with more Democrat votes than Republican votes “tells you everything you need to know.”
“The American people didn’t give us the majority to continue Nancy Pelosi’s bloated spending levels or advance the Left’s radical policies that are destroying our nation,” Clyde said.
“Every single Democrat in the House, except for one, voted for Kevin McCarthy’s ploy to continue Nancy Pelosi’s budget and Joe Biden’s policies,” Republican Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale said on Twitter. “Are we sure Hakeem Jeffries is not the Speaker?”
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