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By Rachel Dobkin and Alex J. Rouhandeh
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Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, is fed up with broken Republican promises, telling Newsweek that there was "no reason to vote" on the six-bill government funding measure that was passed in the House on Wednesday.
The six-bill deal, known as a minibus, includes funding for the departments of Agriculture; Veterans Affairs; Housing and Urban Development; Justice; Transportation; and Commerce, as well as military construction, through September 30.
The $460 billion measure was passed in a 339-85 vote in the House to avoid a partial government shutdown on Friday night. The bill will now head to the Senate floor for a vote.
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Greene told Newsweek on Wednesday that she voted against the minibus.
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"There was no reason to vote on a minibus when we could have done six separate appropriations bills," she said. "So, why pack it all together into one minibus? The Republicans promised the American people no more omnibuses, minibuses and CRs [continuing resolutions] and well, here they did it."
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, had the help of more Democrats than Republicans in passing the funding measure, something that has become the norm in the GOP-controlled lower chamber.
A total of 207 Democrats and 132 Republicans voted for the minibus, while 83 Republicans and just two Democrats voted against it.
Greene has long criticized using CRs and spending packages that lump together several funding measures.
Representative Jim McGovern from Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, told Newsweek on Wednesday: "Democrats are interested in governing and that means not shutting down the government because that would have a devastating impact on our economy, it would impact negatively all of our constituents.
Part of our job, especially in divided government is to try to work together to figure out what we need to do to get these bills passed to the finish line and we did that today."
McGovern added that he was "grateful" to the Republicans who voted for the minibus.
The minibus is the first real legislative step taken by Congress to pass a budget for the 2024 fiscal year, which started on October 1, 2023. For months, CRs have been used to push funding deadlines along and avoid a government shutdown as U.S. lawmakers failed to pass the 12 individual spending bills needed.
The minibus will still need to pass through the Senate and then Congress has to work on passing legislation to fund the rest of the government by a March 22 deadline.
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