GOP hard-liners balk at stopgap bill that perpetuates vicious cycle of spending deals and debt

A group of House Republicans plan to vote against the latest short-term funding patch because they believe it continues the spending status quo in Washington.

They said the stopgap spending bill perpetuates an annual cycle of short-term patches followed by massive catchall spending bills that have racked up $35 trillion in debt since the 1990s.

“I think that we’re looking at the fact of what we always do,” said Rep. Cory Mills, Florida Republican. “That’s part of the problem, that, you know, again, the definition of insanity, right? That’s what we’re living.”

The rebellion is unlikely to tank the bill.

The stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, is the product of negotiations between leaders of the Republican-run House and Democratic-run Senate. It will likely pass both chambers this week and ward off a partial government shutdown ahead of an Oct. 1 deadline to fund the government.

Republican critics of the plan said it strays from the promises party leaders made when they took control of the House.

At the beginning of this congressional session, the GOP vowed to pass spending bills one at a time through a process called regular order. Congress has not passed all 12 spending bills one at a time since the late 1990s and only four times since 1977.

Though the House passed five spending bills this year, the plan to pass the remaining bills by July was derailed by GOP infighting.

Rep. Matt Rosendale, Montana Republican, said it was the reliance on funding patches and massive, catchall omnibus spending bills that contributed to “spiraling debt.”

“It amazes me that we get lectured by people about, ’We should pass this CR because this is going to help us, and this is going to be better than the alternative,’” he told The Times. “Again, I’m tired of being lectured by people that have been up here for one and two decades, that have been the architects of the $35 trillion debt.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, vowed he would not use an omnibus this year or repeat his approach last year of using several spending packages or minibus spending.

“We don’t want any buses,” he said. “We’re not going to do any buses, OK? We’ll deal with that in the lame duck.”

Some Republicans doubt the speaker can make good on his promise.

“How’s he gonna deliver that, he depends on [Rep. Nancy] Pelosi and [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries,” Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, told The Washington Times. “He’s in bed with them, and he can’t tell us what he’s going to do. They’re going to tell him what he’s going to do. He owes the speakership to them.”