Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) is leading a House GOP effort to block Democrats from using a last-minute stopgap funding bill to tie Republicans’ hands in 2023 if they take the majority.
In a letter addressed to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) obtained by The Epoch Times, Roy demands that Republicans oppose any continuing resolution (CR) that raises current spending levels or expires before Jan. 3, 2023.
Because the 118th Congress will sit for the first time on Jan. 3, allowing a CR to run out before then could give a lame-duck Democrat majority a last minute chance to fund its policies through all of fiscal year 2023, even if voters give Republicans a mandate in the new Congress.
In the letter, which is circulating among House Republicans, Roy wrote: “Federal dollars are fueling rampant inflation and funding the Biden administration’s radical agenda. This includes empowering authoritarian bureaucrats at agencies like the IRS and FBI, implementing open-border policies that are threatening our communities, imposing COVID-19 mandates that shut down schools and are forcing our military servicemembers out of their jobs, and advancing self-destructive energy policies.
“As the September 30th federal funding deadline approaches, Republicans must do what is necessary to ensure that not one additional penny will go toward this administration’s radical, inflationary agenda,” he continued. “Any legislation that sets the stage for a ‘lame duck’ fight on government funding gives Democrats one final opportunity to pass that agenda.
“Therefore, we, the undersigned, pledge to the American people to reject any continuing resolution that expires prior to the first day of the 118th Congress, or any appropriations package put forward in the remaining months of this Democrat-led Congress.”
Another Warning About Democrat Proposals
In a statement put forward by Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Banks warned about several proposals by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that Republicans were likely to oppose (pdf).These provisions include another $22.4 billion for COVID-19 while doing nothing to offset the new spending, new military aid to Ukraine rounding out to about $11.7 billion, and a pathway to citizenship for approximately 76,000 Afghans without lawful permanent resident status, among others.
Banks called on his party to use the opportunity to juxtapose the Republican vision with that of Democrats.
“Over the next three weeks, Democrats plan to attack American energy, increase the deficit and further fuel inflation, give amnesty to tens of thousands of unvetted refugees from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, strip voters of their say in funding the government for an entire year and further abuse Joe Biden’s permanent pandemic power,” Banks wrote.
Senators Echo Roy’s Demand
Similar demands were set forth by Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) in an op-ed for Fox News.“Month after month for the last two years, Democrats and President Joe Biden have been able to advance their radical agenda while Republicans have largely been sidelined,” the trio wrote, citing a series of partisan bills advanced under the reconciliation process during the 117th Congress with little to no GOP input in either chamber.
“It’s time for Republicans to stand united and demand that Congress pass a clean continuing resolution (CR) that simply maintains current federal spending levels—and not a penny more—until a new Congress begins,” the op-ed continued.
Heading off liberal critiques of the demand, the senators wrote that “forcing Congress to pass a clean CR will not result in ANY cuts to funding or services. What this will do is ensure that the federal government continues to operate as it must for the American people until a new Congress begins in 2023.”
“Second, this is not some convoluted scheme to cause a government shutdown. If Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called a vote tomorrow on a clean CR that extends government funding to January 31, 2023, it would easily pass. This is about accountability and doing what’s right for American taxpayers. That’s it.
“It’s time for Republicans to stand up and unite. We cannot green light one more liberal priority that will simply send America further in the wrong direction,” the op-ed concluded. “We must show strength now and prove to the American people that we will end the madness in Washington and return power back to them, where it rightly belongs.”
Ultimately, the Senate is likely to be the final word on the fate of any CR, and Schumer may find himself unable to overcome GOP opposition to any new spending after two years of partisan spending by Democrats.
