(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Congressman Glenn Grothman (WI-06) released the following statement after voting no on H.R. 8337, a continuing resolution bill that will fund the government through December 11, 2020. The bill passed the House of Representatives on September 22, 2020 by a vote of 359-57.
“There are some people who feel Congress is broken and last night we saw another example of why,” said Grothman. “The House, hastily and without enough time to review the legislation, passed a government funding bill, known as a continuing resolution, that will keep the government open from October 1 to December 11, 2020. I am against government shutdowns and would normally vote for such a bill.
“On Monday, September 21, a continuing resolution package, with only Democratic support, was added to the House floor calendar for Tuesday, September 22. This package did not include much needed agriculture relief that Republicans and President Trump requested. Tuesday morning the continuing resolution package was suddenly removed from the calendar for the day and we were told negotiations were continuing with the Senate and White House.
“There was no word on negotiations all day Tuesday. Suddenly, at 6:55 p.m. ET, we were told we would have to vote on a 115-page bill in 35 minutes. The roll call was actually called in 25 minutes.
“I feel it was insulting to hold a vote on such a significant bill without being able to discern the details. I can say that as a former state legislator, there is no way state senators or state representatives would accept such high-handed tactics from their leadership – Democrat or Republican.
“By now, most congressmen have become dispirited and just vote yes on these bills, assuming that the people who negotiated it did a good job. Therefore, the bill passed 359-57. Every Democrat voted for the bill as did, to my surprise and dismay, most Republicans. There were just 57 of us who voted no.
“I was in strongly favor of the agricultural relief that was included in the passed bill. But, I could not find a single one of my colleagues who could answer the questions I had about other provisions in the bill.
“There is no reason that this vote could not have been taken on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday after we had a chance to responsibly review the bill. I am dismayed that Democrats, some of whom are my friends, allowed Speaker Pelosi to ask them to vote for a bill with so little time to review it.
“I will continue to work to make sure the bill taken up in December, when this continuing resolution expires, is a fiscally responsible bill providing for the necessities of our government.”
