Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., told Newsmax on Friday that he was disappointed to see the House reject a short-term spending bill on Thursday, but said he hopes the situation is “resolved” before the deadline to avert a government shutdown.
Smucker, in an interview with “Wake Up America,” defended the GOP-led spending bill that failed to pass the House on Thursday evening, which would have funded the government until March, as necessary to provide President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans the chance to set a budget for the rest of 2025.
Smucker said, “I think it's important to remember that the American people gave President Trump and Republicans in Congress a mandate, they want to see government done differently.”
He continued, “They want to see the debt addressed. They want to see tax policy that's working, border policy, energy policy. But you also have to remember that President Trump is not in office yet and the speaker today, whether we like it or not, is negotiating with a Democrat Senate and the Biden administration.”
Smucker said that the purpose of the bill and “the strategy behind this bill was to fund government at the current level of funding … for a few months,” until just after Trump takes office and the next session of Congress is seated, providing Republicans “the opportunity to pass a budget for the remainder of this year that is more in line with what the American people are looking for."
He added, “The bill last night also included disaster relief for those who were impacted by the hurricane, and a much needed extension of the Farm Bill and help for farmers as well, which [are] priorities that most Republicans support.”
Smucker said, “It was disappointing to see this fail. I fully understood the input we received from the American people on the first bill that was then pulled, which was a 1,500-page bill. It included a lot of Democrat priorities. It certainly was not in keeping with what the American public expect us to do and so I hope today we get this resolved.”
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