The bipartisan spending deal to avert a government shutdown was "anything but conservative," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Newsmax Thursday.
"Since I've been in Congress, the threat of a government shutdown has been used for both Democrats and Republicans to get, I'll call them, early Christmas presents that they can take back to the districts and use as they would," Norman said Thursday during an appearance on Newsmax TV's "Newsline."
"And thank God that this last spending package was tanked due to a lot of people — Elon Musk coming out, and the president coming out — but it was anything but conservative. And so, the threat of a government shutdown has been taken off the table. Now, if it's shut down, there are a number of us that are willing to say — before we're going to spend more taxpayer's money with no pay force — then shut it down."
U.S. lawmakers had less than two days on Thursday to avert a partial government shutdown after President-elect Donald Trump rejected a bipartisan deal and demanded lawmakers address the nation's debt ceiling before he takes office next month.
Trump's fellow Republicans huddled behind closed doors on Capitol Hill to craft a fallback plan that could win his approval and also muster enough support to pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democratic-majority Senate. President Joe Biden also would have to sign it into law to keep the government funded past midnight on Friday.
Without action from Congress, the U.S. government will begin a partial shutdown on Saturday that would interrupt funding for everything from air travel to law enforcement in the days leading up to the Dec. 25 Christmas holiday and cut off paychecks for more than 2 million federal workers.
Norman told Newsmax he's "glad it's going through a rule."
"Initially it was going through suspension, which was going to take the Democrats support. Through a rule, we're paring it down way from what it was. We're taking a lot of the Christmas ornaments off it, like the payments building, the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and other things, pay raises for us — that's coming out of it. And that's the right thing to do."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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