Republicans Face Choice: Massive CR or Government Shutdown

The House of Representatives is in hell week, also known as the week in which the passage of a continuing resolution (CR) is necessary to avoid a government shutdown. Elected officials from around the country will either stand up and say no more (in favor of a proper appropriations approach), others will support the measure almost wholeheartedly, and others will hold their noses and vote for it, usually because it includes funding directly related to their district.

The CR is thousands of pages crafted to cram billions of dollars into a single piece of legislation while giving little to no time for the legislators to siphon through the language. Those who vote against the bill will be considered members who voted to shut down the government. It is almost certain that blame will be placed upon both sides.

It's politics, after all.

It appeared Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) was originally going to vote for the CR, citing the included hurricane relief for her district. In a now-deleted social media post, Rep. Luna provided her rationale.

"We got the CR text a little over an hour ago. All of the SBA funding and FEMA relief $/aid that directly impacts my district in Pinellas County was placed in this bill. I asked early on for a stand alone vote on disaster relief, but that was denied. Much to my own personal objections to bloated spending bills, I am going to have to vote for this as it directly impacts the over 600,000 people I represent," said Rep. Luna.

Since deleting the post, Rep. Luna shared multiple posts with her disdain for the measure. It is not clear how she will vote on the CR as of now.

"Leadership put all of my disaster relief for 50,000 people that lost their homes, SBA funding, and beaches relief in this. I had 13 people die in my district. It’s a shit sandwich that they knew I would get rolled for either way. My constituents need the emergency relief funding now. Not next year. I am genuinely disgusted with this entire process," said Rep. Luna.

She also described the CR as an "omnibus" bill.

"They put all of our federal funding for disaster relief for Pinellas in the 'CR' that is more like a mega omnibus than a CR," Luna said.

Moreover, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) tossed the blame on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), saying that appropriations were not brought forth throughout the year, leading to the likely scenario that a CR will be necessary to keep the government open.

"It's not the right way to govern. We ought to be passing appropriations bills using regular order, moving through the year, addressing it department by department. But I got to tell you, under Senate Democrats, they don't want to do that. They won't take up appropriations bills, they won't vote on them. So instead, the the the only choice is either pass a continuing resolution or have the government shutdown. And that's a choice that that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats made," said Sen. Cruz.

"My hope is next year, when we have President Trump in office and a Republican senator, Republican House, that we move in a timely matter and take up each appropriations bill and move it forward, and we'll see whether the Democrats are willing to participate in that process, or whether they try to obstruct that process," Sen. Cruz concluded.

Furthermore, Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) was adamant in his opposition to the CR.

"The index of the 1,547-page 'CR' is longer than the actual CR language in the text. This is not a continuing resolution—it’s an omnibus. And for all the garbage shoved in this cramnibus, there is nothing to prohibit the sale of border wall material. This is shameful. NO," said Rep. Biggs.

Congress will have until Friday, Dec. 20 to pass a CR to avoid a government shutdown.