Nine Republican senators have voted against a continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the government funded, further dividing the GOP.
On Saturday, 88 senators voted in favor of the short-term funding stopgap, but nine senators voted against the bill.
These are Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Mike Braun of Indiana, Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Eric Schmitt of Montana, and J.D. Vance of Ohio.
“Our bipartisan work in the Senate set the tone for the bill we’re about to pass,” Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the vote. “Our bipartisanship made this possible and showed the House that they had to act.”
“We will keep the government open for 45 days with a clean CR at current funding levels,” Schumer continued. “And we avoided all of the extreme, nasty and harmful cuts MAGA Republicans wanted.”
Hagerty posted on the social media platform X about why he opposed the bill, arguing that it did not include measures to deal with other national issues such as the southern border crisis.
“I made very clear that I wouldn’t support any short-term funding bill that didn’t include serious border-security measures to help put an end to the Biden Border crisis, & I’m keeping that commitment,” the Tennesee Republican wrote.
“My colleagues know that I’ve worked my heart out to this end, and I look forward to working with them over the next 45 days to accomplish this critical goal,” he continued.
Marshall also chimed in and said that the CR “does nothing to address our most immediate national security threat- our open southern border & the fentanyl pouring in.”
“With a $33 trillion debt crisis, it’s never been more clear America can’t afford to continue these spending levels for one more day, let alone, 45,” the Kansas senator added.
Then-Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the GOP had anticipated that the conference would coalesce around the stopgap proposal in order to strengthen their power in future negotiations with the Senate and White House. However, the vote represents a loss for the party.
