Just minutes after the continuing resolution (CR) was agreed upon to extend the current provisions of the federal government (avoiding a government shutdown), Representative Brian Mast (R-FL) gave his rationale for why he voted against it.
“When I was elected to serve Florida in Washington, I pledged to fight for you. The United States right now is struggling with the skyrocketing inflation caused by #Bidenomics, rising gas prices and a southern border that remains wide open to tens of thousands of migrants everyday,” said Rep. Mast in a blog post.
He would go on to mention, “That is why, yesterday, I voted for legislation that would have cut federal spending to fight inflation, and secured the border, while still keeping the government open for 30 days. I voted for that continuing resolution (CR) because it didn’t just kick the can down the road, it contained several conservative policies that I support, but it still gave Congress an extension to do the hard work of passing individual spending bills for each federal agency. Unfortunately, that bill did not pass.”
In a video posted on his congressional website blog and YouTube, Rep. Mast stated that the CR he voted for previously would’ve cut spending. The successful CR did not cut spending whatsoever.
“Now, I voted for a continuing resolution previous to this one. I did not vote for this one that just passed. The one that I voted for previously was a cut of about 8-10% of all the spending that goes on in this country. It added a number of other provisions related to border security such as finishing the border wall, different reforms to the asylum process, ending catch-and-release – which is something that the Biden administration has been doing with those millions of illegal immigrants crossing the border,” stated Mast.
The Florida congressman, however, was appreciative of the fact that the successful CR did not include funding for Ukraine.
“House Republicans put forward another CR bill that would fund the government for the next 45 days. While – thankfully – it did not include funding for Ukraine, I don’t believe it was as strong as the bill that the House considered yesterday. That is why I voted no on the continuing resolution.”
Mast believes that 12 passing appropriations bills need to be addressed in the next 45 days such as energy and water funding, which would include South Florida ecosystem restoration efforts.
This is a developing story.
