The U.S. House of Representatives voted late Thursday afternoon to extend government funding into early March and avoid a temporary partial government shutdown, sending the continuing resolution to President Biden to sign into law.
The measure, which passed by a vote of 314 to 108, angered conservative Republicans who opposed any continuing resolution to fund the government without concessions by the Democrats on border security and spending. The House Freedom Caucus made an eleventh-hour plea to House Speaker Mike Johnson to permit an amendment to the House’s border security package, which Johnson rejected.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good slammed his fellow Republicans who supported the continuing resolution ahead of the vote. “The more things change, the more things stay the same,” he said in a floor speech. “We’re not even willing to risk a temporary pause in the 15 percent of the non-essential part of the government in order to force change in Washington,” he said. “No, we’re going to continue the status quo.”
Good’s statements echoed an official position on the measure released by the Freedom Caucus hours before the vote. “Americans did not give Republicans a majority in the House to continue Nancy Pelosi’s inflationary spending and Joe Biden’s failed policies,” the group wrote in a statement. “This is not what we promised the American people.”
The vote is also likely to be unpopular with the Republican base, which consistently ranks immigration as one of the top issues facing the country. Over 80 percent of Republican voters agree with former President Donald Trump that the ongoing border crisis is “poisoning the blood” of America.
