Wisconsin Republicans vote no but Congress passes short-term fix to avert partial shutdown

WASHINGTON – Wisconsin’s Republicans on Capitol Hill all opposed a stopgap measure Thursday to keep the federal government open, though both chambers of Congress ultimately passed a short-term funding patch to avert a partial shutdown set to take effect Saturday.

The bill, which extends federal funding deadlines to March 1 and March 8, passed the House Thursday afternoon on a 314-108 vote — just hours after it moved through the Senate. 

Wisconsin Democratic Reps. Mark Pocan and Gwen Moore were among 207 House Democrats who helped push through the temporary extension after the short-term bill met opposition from 106 House Republicans. Just 107 Republicans supported the measure.

Passage of the measure prevents the lapse in funding for a portion of the government — including for veterans’ assistance programs and the Department of Transportation — that was set to expire at the end of the day Friday. It also extends funding for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, as well as funding for other departments and programs, which was set to run out on Feb. 2. 

Congress in November passed a short-term stopgap measure, called a continuing resolution or CR, that staggered funding expiration dates for the government’s 12 funding bills to Jan. 19 and Feb 2. But the divided body had been unable to negotiate passage of those bills and ultimately passed another short-term measure.

Republican Reps. Mike Gallagher and Tom Tiffany were the only Wisconsin House Republicans in November who opposed the short-term extensions to avert a shutdown. Tiffany at the time said the move continued “the status quo” and Gallagher compared the situation to the movie "Groundhog Day," saying the move brought lawmakers “no closer to a fully funded government and no closer to fixing our broken appropriations process.” He predicted Congress would find itself in the same situation it currently faces.

"Kicking the can even further down the road and then recessing for another week does nothing but reward bad behavior," Gallagher said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, leaders of the House and Senate agreed to topline spending numbers in a deal cut by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. That agreement, however, has faced pushback from the House GOP’s right flank, many of whom opposed Thursday’s measure.

Lawmakers passed the continuing resolution with the hopes of negotiating the details of that deal and passing the government’s spending bills for 2024 before the new March deadlines. Thursday’s measure continues government spending at 2023 levels. 

Before the vote, members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus attempted to lobby the speaker to attach to the clean funding extension a strict border policy bill passed along party lines by House Republicans last year. That effort failed.

“It is Groundhog Day in the House chamber all the time, every day,” Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, a member of the Freedom Caucus, said on the House floor. “Yet again spending money we don’t have.”

“Our speaker, Mr. Johnson, said he was the most conservative speaker we’ve ever had,” Arizona Republican Rep. Eli Crane said in his own remarks on the floor. “And yet here we are putting this bill on the floor this afternoon without conservative policy riders.”

Crane said the chamber with the vote was honoring “side deals” with Democrats that led a group of conservatives to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year, the latest indication of the speaker’s precarious position.

Still, a number of Wisconsin Republicans pointed to border security as a reason they opposed Thursday's bill to continue government funding.

On Wednesday, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he had concerns over passing a continuing resolution without border security policy. A day later, he joined the rest of the Wisconsin GOP delegation in opposition. 

"Washington needs to get to work, pass the twelve appropriations bills, secure the border and return spending back to pre-pandemic levels," Tiffany said in a statement Thursday.

And when asked by the Journal Sentinel about his vote, Rep. Derrick Van Orden called the border a "national security nightmare."

"I would like to see us do something that we keep talking about," Van Orden said, referring to addressing the U.S.-Mexico border. "This is planting a flag saying we have to start doing what we say we're going to do. That's why we're here. We're spending too much money and the border is wide open."

Pocan, a Madison Democrat, accused Republicans after the vote of “continuing to prove they cannot govern.”

“They wasted seven months trying to pass extreme appropriations bills, not a single one of which has been signed into law or even taken up by the Senate,” Pocan said. “Funding the government is the most basic function of Congress. It’s past time for Republicans to get serious and work with Democrats to fund the government for a full year instead of just a few weeks at a time.”

Moore, a Democrat from Milwaukee, noted passing the bill was necessary to continue federal healthcare funding but warned short-term spending stopgaps "cannot remain the norm."

Hours before the House vote, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson told the Journal Sentinel he would not back the short-term spending patch. He said he would vote for a year-long continuing resolution, which he claimed would give Congress time to fix the budget, but opposed Congress’ third CR of the current Congress.

“This is just impinging on a functioning budget and appropriation process for 2025,” the senator said in a brief interview. “So consider mine a protest vote.”

“It’ll pass. That’s fine,” Johnson predicted before the votes. “I don’t want my fingerprints on it.”  

Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin after she helped the Senate pass the measure on a 77-18 vote said a government shutdown would “cut off key nutrition assistance for Wisconsin families, interrupt pay for service members and law enforcement and delay support for the small businesses that keep our state moving forward.”

“No one wins in a government shutdown,” Baldwin said.