Texas Representative Pete Sessions (R) spoke to Texas Politics about how the House GOP has had to wait on the Senate Democrats to get continuing resolutions (CR) passed.
“Texas Republicans were split on the continuing resolution vote two days ago. And we were split because the United States military if the government is not funded, would be hugely impacted. So, it split our delegation, yet we believe we were literally promised an opportunity to add border language," said Rep. Sessions "The administration is moving forward, at least with Eagle Pass, TX, to provide some border security by adding the portions of the wall.”
Rep. Sessions believed that the appropriations bill should have included funding for policies such as "Remain in Mexico" and support for law enforcement at the border.
Though the Republicans hold the majority in the House, Democrats hold the majority in the Senate. Rep. Sessions stated that the House has had to “negotiate with the Senate” in order to get their bills passed.
Sessions continued, emphasizing that any future resolution would have to include border security or run the risk of losing even more support.
According to Sessions, the split delegation was a step forward in pushing for tighter security at the Texas border.
“I’m one of the those that do not want to vote to do anything to diminish our ability to fund our military,” said Rep. Sessions.
Sessions highlighted the construction of the border wall that has been endorsed by the state of Texas and the Abbott administration. Furthermore, he reiterated his claim that the House GOP had an “agreement” that the border would be included in the CR. The GOP’s desired deal, however, did not get approved, causing Rep. Sessions to believe that future GOP votes for the CR would not be in favor of “the next funding.”
Many of the healthcare measures pushed by Rep. Sessions, such as the Healthcare Modernization Act of 2023, were not included. The Texas congressman has been in favor of doctors seeing more Medicare patients. However, because of the exclusion of the measure, fewer Medicare patients could be seen. Rep. Sessions stressed the importance of the various legislative inclusions, going as far as to say that they have an importance similar to that of an election.
