Congress passes spending bill, averts shutdown
How the Georgia delegation voted on a status quo spending bill through Dec. 11:
Senate — Yes: David Perdue (R) and Johnny Isakson (R)
House — Yes: Sanford Bishop, D-Albany; Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia; John Lewis, D-Atlanta; Austin Scott, R-Tifton; David Scott, D-Atlanta; and Rob Woodall, R-Lawrenceville.
No: Rick Allen, R-Evans; Buddy Carter, R-Pooler; Doug Collins, R-Gainesville; Tom Graves, R-Ranger; Jody Hice, R-Monroe; Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville; Tom Price, R-Roswell; and Lynn Westmoreland, R-Coweta County.
The federal government will keep chugging into December, as Congress passed a status quo spending bill Wednesday with hours to spare before a shutdown.
The measure merely postpones a nasty fight about abortion and spending levels. Republicans who disagreed with allowing federal funding to continue to flow to Planned Parenthood deserted the bill in droves, with the majority of House Republicans — including most of those from Georgia — voting no.
Georgia’s two senators, meanwhile, voted for the “clean” funding bill Wednesday, eager to avoid a shutdown.
“I will continue to protect all life as I have in the past, but I am also focused on bringing sanity to the budget and appropriations process,” Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue said.
“This is certainly not the end of the appropriations process, but it should not have been the beginning either,” he said. “This interim step of passing a continuing resolution gives Congress additional time to act responsibly.”
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, a Gainesville Republican, disagreed.
“I will not go against my belief in the sanctity of life and support a funding measure that does not contain a specific prohibition against federal funding of Planned Parenthood,” he said.
The first casualty of the battle is Speaker John Boehner, who announced Friday that he will resign from Congress, as he allowed mostly Democrats to carry the bill keeping the government open until Dec. 11. All of Georgia’s Democrats were in favor.
“We need to keep the government open,” Atlanta Democratic U.S. Rep. John Lewis said. “We don’t need to close it up. It’s the right thing to do. … We just push the cart down the road.”
Even Republicans who voted against the bill on principle about giving money to Planned Parenthood said they did not want a shutdown, and they might have been there if their votes were needed.
“I’m not for funding Planned Parenthood, I can tell you that,” U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, a Pooler Republican, said Tuesday, a day before voting no. “I made that obvious in my speeches on the floor and what I put out in the media. But we’ll just have to wait and be a game-time decision.”
Roswell Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Price told anxious members of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce in town Tuesday for their annual Washington fly-in lobby day: “I don’t think there’s any chance of a shutdown.” In Price’s view, President Barack Obama wanted a shutdown because he felt it would help him politically — and in 2013, Obama was right.
“It is a sad state of affairs,” Price said.
Price still voted no — in effect, for a shutdown — as he works to shore up his conservative reputation in a race for majority leader ahead of a closed-door vote set for next week. Price’s chief foe for the No. 2 House GOP post, Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, voted for the spending bill.
The abortion fight has been spurred by undercover videos claiming to show Planned Parenthood profiting from the sale of fetal tissue. House Republicans launched a new special committee to investigate the organization. Senate Democrats blocked other efforts to strip funding from the organization, including via the short-term spending bill.
The dispute has overshadowed bigger-picture questions about military spending levels. Many Republicans want to undo across-the-board defense spending cuts known as sequestration. Democrats are demanding commensurate increases for domestic programs.
Boehner, Obama and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have been discussing a two-year spending deal that would put off the possibility of a shutdown until after the 2016 elections. But any such deal is certain to face resistance from House conservatives.
