Six Tennessee U.S. representatives voted against a “minibus” spending bill on Thursday that would fund six of the 12 appropriations divisions for Fiscal Year 2024.
The 1,050-page spending package passed the House of Representatives by a 339-85 vote.
U.S. Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01), Tim Burchett (R-TN-02), Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04), Andy Ogles (R-TN-05), John Rose (R-TN-06), and Mark Green (R-TN-07) all voted against the spending package.
U.S. Representatives Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN-03) and David Kustoff (R-TN-08) voted with the majority.
Rose said he “could not in good conscience vote” to support the spending bill.
“Speaker Johnson and House Republicans on the Appropriations Committee faced an uphill battle to enact even modest spending cuts to some parts of the budget,” Rose said in a statement. “While those relatively small cuts are welcome, I could not in good conscience vote in support of another spending bill that further indebts future generations when the national debt is already increasing by $1 trillion every 100 days. Huge deficits and higher interest rates are exponentially increasing our unsustainable national debt, and until these grave threats to our economy and to our very well-being as a nation are seriously addressed, it will be difficult to gain my support for any sort of spending legislation.”
Burchett also said he could not vote for the package due to its spending levels.
“I understand Speaker Johnson is in a tough spot as he’s trying to negotiate these bills with the Democrats, but I can’t vote to spend that much of the American people’s money in good conscience,” Burchett added.
Ogles said he could not vote for the bill because it “still funds the DOJ tyrants and the DEI Dictators.”
“I voted ‘no’ on today’s swamp-bus,” Ogles said. “The bill was a disingenuous attempt to tell Americans that “everything is fine” by averting a shutdown despite its lack of conservative policy riders. I look forward to voting ‘no’ on the sequel.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
