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You better believe I voted NO on that continuing resolution this Saturday afternoon in the House of Representatives. 

Kevin McCarthy fought so hard to become Speaker back in January. He knows we’re spending ourselves into oblivion! He knew conservatives like me would use every ounce of leverage at our disposal to try to get spending under control. He’s known SINCE LAST YEAR that September 30th was the deadline to have 12 separate appropriations bills passed or risk a government shutdown. And he knows items like securing the border are high priorities for Americans.

Well, we got NONE of that today. He ran us right up to the 11th hour – not long after a 6-week vacation – and then all he could manage to get across the finish line was a 45-day continuing resolution that contains NO spending reductions whatsoever. No border security requirements either. It was TOTAL CAPITULATION!! There were 209 Democrats who were obviously thrilled with McCarthy’s offer and voted for it; far more than the 126 Republicans who voted in favor.

I was one of ~90 Republicans who did EXACTLY what we promised. As I’ve said repeatedly, I simply will not vote for any spending measure that doesn’t contain meaningful reductions to put us on a trajectory to balance the budget. Why would this time be an exception?

Friends, it is NOT my job to keep non-essential functions of the government “open” no matter the cost. It IS my job to deal with our $2 trillion deficit this year alone, and $33 trillion national debt. Like most of you, I’d much rather face the soft inconvenience of a temporary shutdown of non-essential services than the catastrophic economic disaster that awaits us because we keep spending ourselves into oblivion.

If this continuing resolution passes the Senate and is signed by the President, the next appropriations deadline is just two weeks before Thanksgiving, setting us up to be rolled yet again. I’ll have more to say concerning that in the coming days.