Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs at a news conference mostly ruled out a funding lapse, though Virginia Rep. Bob Good left the option on the table, saying the GOP shouldn’t fear the impacts on federal operations or the economy.
JENNIFER SHUTT
Arizona Mirror
A handful of ultra-conservative U.S. House Republicans rebuked their leadership on Tuesday over the annual government funding process, but appeared at odds on whether they should force a government shutdown later this year.
Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs at a news conference mostly ruled out a funding lapse, though Virginia Rep. Bob Good left the option on the table, saying the GOP shouldn’t fear the impacts on federal operations or the economy.
“I am not worried about a government shutdown at this point,” Biggs said. “But that’s my own perspective, I know I’m not speaking for everybody else.”
Good then said that Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, has an “opportunity to be a transformational, historical speaker” if he presses for spending cuts beyond what Republicans have already made in their bills.
“We should not fear a government shutdown; most of what we do up here is bad anyway, most of what we do up here hurts the American people,” Good said.
The Republican House, he argued, should force the Democratic Senate and Biden administration to accept its dozen appropriations bills, once they comply with Freedom Caucus ideals.
The Freedom Caucus is a group of especially conservative members of the House Republican Conference that likely numbers somewhere between 30 and 50 lawmakers. The group doesn’t publicly release its membership list, but is chaired by Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry.
That move to insist on the House version would throw out the conference process where the House and Senate reconcile their differences, an element of so-called “regular order” that Freedom Caucus members have repeatedly called for over the years.
“The House is going to say ‘No,’ we’re going to pass a good Republican bill out of the House and force the Senate and the White House to accept it, or we’re not going to move forward,” Good said. “What would happen if Republicans for once stared down the Democrats and were the ones who refused to cave?”
