Military veterans in the GOP House conference are calling on their conservative colleagues to decouple their spending demands from the annual defense appropriations bill as budget negotiations drag on just two weeks ahead of the shutdown deadline.
Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) hit out against his colleagues to the right, urging them not to hold the spending legislation hostage in exchange for a slew of other demands from GOP leadership. Garcia’s plea comes as the defense appropriations bill remains stalled in the House due to resistance from hard-line conservatives, delaying initial plans to pass it earlier this week and send the must-pass legislation to the Senate for negotiations.
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“Here on the Hill, I think our biggest weakness is a susceptibility and vulnerability of being too easily distracted by political drama and gamesmanship that compels us to do horse-trading with a precious piece of legislation like this defense spending,” Garcia, a Navy veteran, told reporters on Friday. “That’s the reason that we stand here today to implore all Republicans and Democrats to support this very important $826 billion critical step forward.”
Congress only has 15 days until the government is scheduled to run out of money and enter a shutdown period, sending House GOP leaders into a scramble as they attempt to get all corners of their conference on board to advance the must-pass legislation. So far the House has passed just one of its 12 appropriations bills after GOP leaders canceled votes on the defense bill due to a lack of support among hard-line conservatives.
Several of those conservatives have remained adamant they won’t vote for any spending legislation unless certain provisions are included, such as a vote on Republicans’ border security bill and slashed funding for certain “woke” policies at the Pentagon. McCarthy has been working with his right flank to iron out some sort of agreement, but nothing has been agreed upon yet.
Garcia hit out against those conservatives on Friday, urging them to drop those demands and support passage of the defense funding legislation.
“If you oppose the rule, which is effectively preventing this bill from moving forward, and if you oppose the passage of this bill, you are enabling the failed defense policies and this administration, and accelerating the downward trajectory of our nation’s security,” he said. “I don’t envy the person that votes against the rule or votes against this bill when they have to explain to their constituents and more importantly to our troops, why they did not support this bill. You shouldn’t play games or try to leverage this when folks need to adopt the mentality of one team and one fight.”
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), a former Navy SEAL, echoed similar sentiments to call on his colleagues to advance the legislation, warning of the military threats posed by China that would only worsen under a government shutdown.
“We need to make sure that we understand that our troops are not bargaining chips. They’re not poker chips. These are real human beings,” he said. “This is not the way to do it. It simply is not.”
If Congress can’t pass all 12 of its bills before the end of the month, lawmakers will typically agree to a continuing resolution that allows the government to operate at the same spending levels until a new agreement is made — something conservatives have also vehemently opposed. Still, McCarthy told reporters he hopes to push a short-term continuing resolution through the House as early as next week to keep the government funded, noting he would keep the House in session until a spending agreement is passed.
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Garcia noted a continuing resolution is the most likely option as of now, arguing that doing so would give the “negotiation space” needed to come to a full agreement.
“I think it’s self-evident that we’re going to be in a CR if we do our jobs correctly. A shutdown is probably the worst thing that we could do for the country,” he said. “We need to do everything we can to avoid that.”
