McCarthy: Freedom Caucus stalling appropriations bills equals Pelosi’s stance.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Warns Freedom Caucus of Aligning with Pelosi
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) issued a warning to members of the House Freedom Caucus, stating that if they choose to block or delay the appropriations bills from reaching the floor until all 12 are out of committee, they would essentially be siding with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Freedom Caucus Demands Full Committee Advancement
During a press conference on Tuesday, members of the House Freedom Caucus demanded that leadership wait until all 12 appropriations bills are advanced out of committee before holding floor votes for any of them. This move aims to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the entire budget before making any decisions.
However, with the Sep. 30 deadline to fund the government approaching and the House going on recess for August, only two appropriations bills are scheduled to be heard on the floor this week, while four remain in committee.
Freedom Caucus Urges Leadership
While the Freedom Caucus did not explicitly threaten to vote against or block the bills from reaching the floor until all 12 were out of committee, they strongly urged leadership not to put them up for a vote.
Representative Ralph Norman (R-SC) stated, “I never say what I’m going to do ahead of time. I’m just going to say, I look at what’s being presented, we’ll see what information we have, we see where we are in the other appropriations bills to get the 12, so we’ll have the total pie to look at, then we’ll make a judgment call.”
McCarthy Warns of Democratic Priorities
McCarthy expressed concern that if the Freedom Caucus were to block or slow-play the appropriations bills, it would inadvertently help the Democrats by solidifying their priorities. He emphasized that he would never support such a move, as it aligns with Pelosi’s strategy.
During the press conference, Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) predicted that leadership would pass a short-term continuing resolution until December and combine some of the appropriations bills into minibuses for voting.
Freedom Caucus Opposes Continuing Resolution
Members of the Freedom Caucus made it clear that they would oppose any form of a continuing resolution or minibus if brought up for a vote on the floor.
McCarthy did not rule out the possibility of the House passing a short-term continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown, but he firmly stated his opposition to a long-term continuing resolution, as it would “lock in all of Pelosi’s priorities that are already there.”
When asked directly about supporting a short-term continuing resolution until December, McCarthy did not provide a clear answer.
He stated, “I think we’ve got an ability to get our work done. I rather have the pressure to get our work done instead of seeing some omnibus coming through. You have watched me say before I’ll never bring an omnibus to the floor.”
Continuing Resolution Becomes More Likely
As the Sep. 30 deadline to pass 12 appropriations bills approaches and the House has yet to pass one off the floor, the possibility of a continuing resolution, a stop-gap measure to fund the government at the previous year’s spending levels, becomes increasingly likely.
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