After the House passed a supposedly “bipartisan” stopgap measure on Saturday to fund the government and prevent a shutdown, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) spoke out about the failure of the Republican-controlled chamber to get any of their own party’s policies addressed in the bill.
Speaking with “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream, Donalds condemned the bill for not addressing any of the issues at the top of the Republican agenda — while also slamming House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) for trying to smear the conservatives who voted against the measure as “MAGA Republicans.”
“Look, I’m gonna be honest. We did not get anything out of this continued resolution,” the Florida Republican explained. “The border is still unsecured in our country. Why is that? That’s because Joe Biden and the Democrats got their way. The Democrat members are very happy with what they got. I think this is a terrible deal for the American people.”
“Cutting this government’s spending down must happen,” Donalds added. “Inflation is still running rampant. That’s not MAGA Republican, that’s common sense. Having a secure border – that’s not MAGA Republican, that’s common sense.”
The stopgap measure was able to pass with broad bipartisan support — mostly from Democrats and establishment Republicans. The measure received 335 votes in support, while 91 lawmakers voted against it — including one Democrat. Donalds was unable to vote on the measure — which he blamed on House Republican leaders, claiming that they were aware that he would vote “no” and chose not to hold the vote open for him as he made his way to the House.
The measure did lead to one victory for conservatives and the American people — as it included $16 billion for U.S. disaster relief aid but no additional taxpayer dollars being sent to fund the Ukraine war, despite Democrats and establishment Republicans demanding more Ukraine aid.
However, the bill will only continue to fund the government for 45 days — giving House Republicans more time to pass single-subject spending bills like Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy promised when negotiating with House Republicans to gain the speakership.
We cannot continue business as usual in Washington, D.C. by passing another continuing resolution.
We MUST pass single-subject spending bills! pic.twitter.com/Y6vyfZR2T2
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) September 22, 2023
Despite Republicans having control of the House, the measure was a clear victory for the Democrats. Jeffries and Rep. Don Beyers (D-VA) appeared to agree with Donalds that Republicans did not achieve any victories for their own party in the measure — with Beyers accusing McCarthy of “folding” and Jeffries declaring that “Extreme MAGA Republicans have lost.”
Conservative lawmakers are so outraged over McCarthy’s failure that many are now calling for removing him from the speakership — with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) announcing that he plans to file a motion to vacate the speaker at some point in the coming week. Donalds has not committed to voting to remove McCarthy, but he did suggest that McCarthy should be concerned about the move.
“I think he is in trouble,” Donalds told Bream. “There has to be some level of strong leadership in our chamber, I’m just gonna be totally blunt. There are a lot of trust issues in our chamber right now, where people feel on both sides of our conference that everybody’s not gonna hold hands and continue to do this work together.”
