Republicans, particularly those online, had high hopes when Rep. Gaetz and Co. removed Speaker McCarthy and eventually replaced him with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson that Speaker Johnson would be somewhat better than Rep. McCarthy was as Speaker. Particularly, they hoped that he would stand up for the wishes of the base, namely on the highly important issues of border security and the national debt.
Unfortunately, the latest Continuing Resolution that Speaker Johnson introduced and then passed with the help of more Democrats than Republicans does neither of those things. Such is what Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, a committed MAGA Republican, argued in a recent press statement, saying that he refused to support the CR for those reasons.
Beginning the press statement, his office described what the CR did, noting, “Better known as the laddered continuing resolution, this legislation extends government funding through February 2, 2024, except for funding provided under the Agriculture, Energy & Water, Military Construction &VA, and Transportation and Housing & Urban Development appropriations bills. These four appropriations divisions would receive funding through January 19, 2024,”
Speaking on the matter and describing why he refused to support the CR, Rep. Gosar argued that the CR did not cut spending or defund the woke agenda, instead adding yet more to the debt and deficit. “Failing to include any spending cuts and continuing to fund the entire Biden-Pelosi woke agenda that is destroying our country, driving our nation’s debt dangerously closer to $34 trillion and crushing American families with historically high inflation is not something I could support,” he wrote.
Continuing, he argued that the CR does not even include any “meaningful measures” to lock down the border and stop the flow of deadly drugs into the country, particularly the highly dangerous fentanyl, which many Americans want to see kept out of the country because of the damage it does to lives and communities.
He said, “Not included in the continuing resolution are any meaningful measures to secure the southern border to stop the surge of illegal aliens and deadly flow of fentanyl that are destroying communities in my district in the great state of Arizona. Over 10 million illegal aliens and over 27,000 pounds of fentanyl have poured into our country since Joe Biden and Secretary Mayorkas took office in 2021.”
He also argued that any CR the theoretically GOP-controlled House passes should include common sense border security measures, saying, “Any continuing resolution proposal must include the border security measures included in H.R. 2, legislation that already passed the House of Representatives, and would reverse Biden’s reckless open border policies.”
Making one more point, he added that the CR was “irresponsible” in that it didn’t let Congress improve the Farm Bill, saying, “Lastly, rather than being considered separately as a stand-alone issue, as we agreed to earlier this year, the continuing resolution ill-advisedly reauthorizes the Farm Bill through September 2024 without discussion or debate. This is irresponsible and prevents Congress from improving the bill.”
Concluding, he summarized his argument, saying that it is high time Congress put Americans first by sitting down and writing real budgets, rather than just endless Continuing Resolutions: “The cycle of temporary funding deals that fail to rein in spending, reverse the Biden-Pelosi agenda or address the invasion along the southern border must end. Rather than continuously kicking the can down the road, Congress must put the needs of Americans first.”
Featured image credit: By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America – Paul Gosar, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73441781
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