Five Republicans voted alongside every Democrat to sink their own bill to fund the Pentagon as the House GOP conference remains divided over a series of measures needed to finance the government through the next fiscal year.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has until the end of September to strike a deal between his party’s most conservative members and moderates representing Democratic-leaning congressional districts to pass 12 appropriations bills funding the federal government. Finding a consensus on these bills has been challenging, due to the GOP’s slim majority in the House of Representatives, which requires the speaker to keep nearly the entire conference together to pass any legislation, barring support from Democrats.
McCarthy sought to begin debate on the first of these appropriations bills, the legislation to fund the Department of Defense (DoD), typically viewed as one of the less controversial ones.
However, the House voted 214-212 against opening debate on the Department of Defense (DoD) bill, delivering a blow to McCarthy’s leadership. House conservatives have sought to ensure federal spending remained below $1.47 trillion, the number set in 2022, but lower than the $1.59 trillion cap agreed to by McCarthy and President Joe Biden in May.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is pictured Thursday at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Five conservative House Republicans on Tuesday joined Democrats in rejecting McCarthy’s effort to launch debate on the annual defense appropriations bill.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Here’s a list of the five Republican representatives who voted against launching debate:
Andy Biggs (Arizona)Dan Bishop (North Carolina)Ken Buck (Colorado)Ralph Norman (South Carolina)Matt Rosendale (Montana)
Newsweek reached out to McCarthy’s office for comment via email on Tuesday.
Bishop and Rosendale explained their votes in posts to X, formerly Twitter.
“I took down the rule—as I vowed I would—because the Conference continues not to have moved twelve appropriations bills at the spending level agreed to in January. I assume leadership believes me now,” Bishop wrote.
“For months, I have made it clear that in order for me to support the appropriations bills, we need to see the total value for all 12 bills. Leadership has yet to provide us with that number, which is why I voted against the rule this afternoon! Why are they keeping it a secret?” Rosendale wrote.
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