(The Center Square) – A compromise spending proposal between Republican factions in the U.S. House that aims to prevent a government shutdown is facing opposition from the most conservative members of the lower chamber, including North Carolina Congressman Dan Bishop.
Bishop, who represents eight counties in the 8th Congressional District east of Charlotte, was among the first House members to speak out against a continuing resolution brokered between members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and Republican Main Street Caucus on Sunday evening.
The legislation is the House’s attempt to break intraparty disagreements and avoid a government shutdown next month. Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., can lose only four Republican votes to pass the measure with all Democrats opposed.
On social media, Bishop wrote that he is in agreement with Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla. He wrote, “Roll back the crazy bureaucracy to pre-COVID levels. Now.”
Mills wrote on social media, “I’m a HARD NO!”
“I’m sick of the DC backroom deals to appease 61 in the Senate and not going to play this game,” Mills wrote. “Our job is to fund the US and take care of the American people. I was not elected by overseas interest like others. Enough is Enough!”
Bishop’s office did not return a request for comment from The Center Square on Monday.
Bishop, winner of a special election in 2019 and reelection in 2020 and 2022, is among the loudest Republican voices inside the Beltway and an outspoken critic of McCarthy. He is also well-known on Twitter after breaking down “some of the most egregious provisions” of a more than 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package in December, and for leveraging his positions on the Homeland Security and Judiciary committees to push back on government overreach.
“At the end of this month, government funding will run out. Entrenched swamp interests are in favor of passing a Continuing Resolution that will do nothing but continue the same bloated spending that I am fighting against tooth and nail,” Bishop wrote in a Sunday newsletter to constituents. “My House Freedom Caucus colleagues and I made it perfectly clear what it will take for us to get onboard with any government funding plan, and that we won’t simply go along with the broken status quo that so many Americans are frustrated with.”
The 31-day continuing resolution would impose an 8% spending cut on all federal agencies with the exception of the national defense budget, the Department of Veterans Affairs and disaster relief. The resolution includes border security provisions conservatives have pushed for but does not include $20 billion in aid for Ukraine and $16 billion in disaster relief requested by President Joe Biden.
Votes are expected later this week to potentially send the proposal to the Senate. The forecast there is not good, politicos around Washington say. McCarthy has said passing the compromise in the lower chamber would help to unify Republicans around a single proposal heading into negotiations with Senate Democrats. Congress has until Saturday of next weekend, Sept. 30, to pass a spending plan to avoid a shutdown.
Other Republicans reportedly opposing or leaning against the continuing resolution include Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia, Andy Ogles and Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eli Crane of Arizona, Ken Buck of Colorado, Matt Rosendale of Montana, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, and Matt Gaetz and Anna Luna of Florida.
Several, including Bishop, have cited promises to consider all 12 federal appropriations bills individually, a desire to cut spending to fiscal year 2022 levels, and provisions to curtail powers and policies at the Department of Justice.
McCarthy has said he will bring the proposal to a vote regardless of support, while those who helped craft it are touting its provisions as wins for conservatives.
