House GOP hardliners are trying to block a defense spending bill, worsening the Republican dispute as a government shutdown is looming.
The situation makes the Pentagon the latest casualty of the supposed civil war between Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his conservative critics. GOP rebels worked to block the annual defense appropriations bill in a procedural vote and delivered a stunning loss to McCarthy.
Republican Dispute
They are also looking at who sought to break an impasse over federal spending that forced leaders to pull the legislation back last week. House Republicans are still at odds regarding the coming spending confrontation, with the Senate only being 12 days out from a government shutdown.
Additionally, many conservatives withheld their votes on the Pentagon bill to force Republican leaders to take a harder line on a stopgap to keep the lights on in the government. As per Politico, the procedural vote on the $826 billion defense spending bill ultimately failed in a 212-214 vote on Tuesday.
Five Republican lawmakers defected on the procedural vote, which almost always falls along party lines. These were Reps. Andy Biggs, Dan Bishop, Ken Buck, Ralph Norman, and Matt Rosendale.
Defense hawks have decried conservatives, led many by the House Freedom Caucus, which has worked to stop military funding for the past week. Some military-oriented Republicans also urged McCarthy to force a vote on the defense measure, even knowing that it was doomed to fail. They forced conservatives to take the blame for holding up the situation.
An appropriator, Rep. Mike Garcia, who has urged leadership to force the issue, also called out the five GOP defectors by name and likened their votes to appease China. He added that the defectors handed a win to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) due to the vote.
As tensions within the House Republican conference rise, New York Rep. Mike Lawler said, "This is stupidity." He was referencing hardliners' demands on spending, which prompted the Republican freshman to privately propose a new plan to work with Democratic lawmakers and force a vote to keep the government from shutting down, according to CNN.
Averting a Government Shutdown
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is at the center of most of the drama as he attacked McCarthy personally. However, he has also engaged in social media spats with fellow hardline conservatives who helped broker a House GOP plan to continue funding the government that was revealed on Sunday.
One of the lead negotiators for House Republicans' current stopgap spending proposal, Rep. Byron Donalds, criticized moderate members who were warming up to working with the left to avoid a shutdown.
Tensions within the GOP are rising partly due to disagreements over what kind of a stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to pass or even if one should be passed in the first place.
In a statement, Donalds added that many of his colleagues, Freedom Caucus members, and others should be concerned that some GOP members are willing to agree on a deal with Democrats. He said that such a decision eliminates their leverage to do anything, said Fox News.
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