Well over a dozen Republican senators voted for the omnibus spending bill on Thursday, defying a threat by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to tank the legislation next year of any senator who supported the $1.7 trillion spending bill.
Hard-line Republicans in the House sent a letter to their Senate counterparts on Monday, urging them to oppose the legislation, which would extend government funding through September. Included in that letter was a threat — vote “no” on the omnibus or else the lawmakers “will do everything in our power to thwart even the smallest legislative and policy efforts of those senators.”
SENATE PASSES $1.7 TRILLION OMNIBUS OVER PROTESTS FROM CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS
Instead of an omnibus, the group of sitting and incoming GOP members, whose numbers swelled to 31 in a subsequent letter sent on Wednesday, want a stopgap bill that extends funding to early next year, when the GOP takes over the House.
McCarthy, courting members of the conservative Freedom Caucus and lawmakers aligned with it, gave his stamp of approval to Monday’s letter, saying bills from those senators voting “yes” would be “dead on arrival” in the chamber next year. By endorsing the letter, McCarthy, who needs the vote of almost every hard-line Republican to become House speaker on Jan. 3, took aim directly at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who brokered a deal with Democrats to advance the omnibus.
Yet on Thursday, 14 senators returning next year, McConnell included, shrugged off the threat and voted for the bill.
“He’s focused on being speaker, and if I were in his shoes, that’s what I would be focused on, trying to get enough votes. But I don’t think that intimidates anyone,” Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the top Republican negotiator on the omnibus in the Senate, told Axios two days before the vote.
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The 18 Republicans who voted “yes” were McConnell, Shelby, Roy Blunt (MO), John Boozman (AK), Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Susan Collins (ME), John Cornyn (TX), Tom Cotton (AK), Lindsey Graham (SC), Jim Inhofe (OK), Jerry Moran (KS), Lisa Murkowski (AL), Rob Portman (OH), Mitt Romney (UT), Mike Rounds (SD), John Thune (SD), Roger Wicker (MS), and Todd Young (IN).
Shelby, Blunt, Inhofe, and Portman are retiring this year, meaning McCarthy’s threat does not apply to them.
The omnibus, which passed the upper chamber 68-29, now heads to the House, where Democrats, who control a two-seat majority, can pass the legislation without any Republican support. Democratic leadership has signaled to members that a vote could take place as soon as Thursday night.
