Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., told Newsmax on Thursday that he is not in favor of the now-scrapped continuing resolution to fund the government and could see the looming partial shutdown coming because congressional Republicans have done nothing to rein in Washington's runaway spending.
"I knew I was a no [vote] coming in because they hadn't done anything to fix the spending problem we have," McCormick said on "Wake Up America." "We talked about 30% overdraft on every single budget we've had since I've been in Congress, and that's with a Republican-run Congress. I've been talking about this since the very day one when I came into Congress two years ago, and we're still working on a CR that continues the Democratic spending items and then adds more.
"That's called an omnibus. Shame on us for not being prepared for this. The fact that we allowed FEMA to pilfer 40%, almost half, of the FEMA budget went to COVID relief," he said referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "This is two years after COVID is no longer even a thing that exists that needs to be bailed out anymore, yet we continue to fund it. That's on us as Republicans. We control the budget. There's no excuse for that."
Elon Musk, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to run the Department of Government Efficiency along with Vivek Ramaswamy, put out several posts on his social media platform X in recent days, urging members of Congress to vote against the CR. McCormick said a number of lawmakers "put out posts before Elon did," but "he has a bully pulpit because he has so many followers."
"He's obviously a celebrity of sorts," McCormick said. "He's a very smart individual. He's got the president's ear. So when he talks, people are listening, including the president. The president and he have a very close relationship, along with Vivek.
"I think this is going to be very interesting to watch how it molds the conversation going into the future, not just each individual Congress member, but an actual conglomerate of people who want what's best for this country and to knock out this debt, which is going to be crippling for this future generation."
McCormick also said he wants to "use all leverage we have on the table to actually get a budget" passed "the right way," which he said hasn't been done in 27 years.
"Now, that's not easy," he said. "I get it, and I understand what Speaker Johnson is talking about. When we did it back in 1997, we had a 40-vote majority — that simply does not exist.
"We have like a two-vote majority, especially until we get a couple members replaced. So, it is not an easy order at all. But we made a promise. We made a promise to actually take the debt seriously for the first time in a very long time."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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