Democrat New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim repeatedly shunned how he would vote for upcoming fundraising bills as Republicans are looming to avoid government shutdowns.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson released the bill’s text on Saturday ahead of his vote on the Congressional suspension bill, also known as the Continuing Resolution (CR). While discussing early signs of democratic opposition, Tupper asked Kim, “a union state,” if the resolution would vote “no” if it reached the Senate floor.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying, Jake. What I’m saying is first and foremost, you need to see what happens at home. Again, when Johnson became a speaker, I was in the House,” Kim said. “He’s very poorly legislative, it’s very bad to keep his caucus together. So I’m not sure what will happen there.”
Kim claims he is full of hope and is trying to “push” “bipartisan talks” and knows Republicans who have expressed dissatisfaction that “congressional roles and responsibilities have been abolished and taken away by President Trump.” (Related: GOP refutes Dem Fearmaging about budget invoices with one simple fact)
“This is where you can say, ‘Yes, we’re part of a good government, and that branch is controlling funding and control.’ ” Kim continued. “I hope that the House and Senate Republicans agree. We can resume these bipartisan talks and get things done.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t seem to happen. You’ll continue to talk about the claim. If you don’t have a bipartisan bill, are you just saying it’s no vote? That’s a very simple question,” Tupper replied.
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The 99-page CR released by House GOP aims to fund the government for the year while reducing spending below the 2024 level. The bill includes additional funding for programs and agencies such as veteran healthcare, defense spending, immigration, customs enforcement, but not additional emergency funds, disaster declarations, or policy riders.
In response to Tupper pushing him with his vote, Kim said, “He said his answer was not simple because he doesn’t know what the house is trying to do.
“We can’t tell you that the number of Republicans in the Senate are unhappy with the process, and we want to see us actually move forward,” Kim said. “So, what we’re looking at here in terms of what’s going on with defence spending and what’s going to happen in CR is handing over the key to the castle in terms of where the direction of the funds goes.
“So, Jake, what I say is, we’ll see what happens with how the house moves forward. But there’s a lot of frustration on the ground in the Senate. I think there’s still that 30-day extension and an opening to actually get the deal in the future,” Kim added. “They’re very close. The negotiators are very close to top line deals. I support Senator Murray and others.
President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to unite and support the bill as House Democrats are expected to oppose the CR. On Wednesday, Trump met with members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) to measure their support. Rep. Andy Harris, Republican Chairman of HFC, told the Daily Callenor News Foundation he is confident that the majority of House Republicans will ultimately support CR.
The bill is expected to head to the House floor as early as Tuesday.
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