For years, Democratic lawmakers have railed against Republican budget strategies that involved the threat of a government shutdown.

Now that they are in the minority, however, all but one House Democrat voted to reject a continuing resolution supported by President Donald Trump.

Although the chamber’s narrow GOP majority was sufficient to pass the stopgap spending bill even without the support of Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), he cast a vote alongside the majority of Republicans and later explained his reasoning.

As The Hill reported:

In a statement following the vote, Golden — a moderate Democrat from Maine who has a history of breaking from the party — argued that while the GOP’s legislation was not ideal, a shutdown would be more harmful.

“This CR is not perfect, but a shutdown would be worse,” Golden said, using an abbreviation for continuing resolution (CR). “Even a brief shutdown would introduce even more chaos and uncertainty at a time when our country can ill-afford it.”

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“Funding the government is our most basic obligation as members of Congress,” he added. “My vote today reflects my commitment to making tough choices and doing my job for the people of Maine.”

The congressman continued, “To be clear, this CR is not the one I would have written,” before adding: “But elections have consequences.”

His apparently principled stance on the issue is increasingly rare on Capitol Hill, particularly among members of his party.

The perceived hypocrisy on display by Democrats and the mainstream media was widely criticized on social media in the wake of the vote:

The resolution faces a tougher challenge in the Senate, where the Republicans have a slim majority but need at least eight Democrats to vote yes in order to send it to Trump’s desk.

Per the Daily Wire:

The 99-page continuing resolution, which provides funds to various federal agencies and programs through September 30, prevailed in a 217-213 vote. All but one Republican and a single Democrat — Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) — supported the measure. The rest of the Democrats and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) opposed the bill.

“For years, House Democrats have railed against government shutdowns, but they suddenly changed their tune when President Trump returned to office,” Johnson said on X. “Their falsehoods and misinformation campaigns are a desperate attempt to distract from their own failures. Despite these tactics, President Trump and Congressional Republicans will stop at nothing to deliver on the mandate given by the American people.”

Now the continuing resolution heads to the Republican-controlled Senate, where Democrats could filibuster the measure. Blocking it as such could lead to a partial shutdown in which non-essential federal employees will be furloughed beginning on March 15.

It was not clear heading into the afternoon whether the continuing resolution would have enough votes to prevail in the House, in which the Republicans have a slim 218-214 majority. There were a handful of GOP holdouts, but they came around in the final hours before the vote. As part of the effort to rally support for the measure, Vice President JD Vance paid a visit to Capitol Hill to deliver a closing pitch to House Republicans and Trump worked the phones.

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Here’s what House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had to say about the impending Senate vote:

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
 

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