Neither Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, nor Washington’s two Democratic senators said they were happy with the spending bill passed by Congress early Friday, but they split their votes.
Only Sen. Patty Murray voted in favor of the bill.
“While I don’t agree with every aspect of this sweeping bipartisan bill, I believe it moves us in the right direction and will help Washington state families and communities in a number of important ways,” Murray said in a statement.
Murray cited increased investments in education, health care, infrastructure and “other middle class and national security priorities” as reasons to support the bill.
“This deal is a step away from the constant crises we’ve seen far too much of in this Republican Congress, and it should hopefully allow us to work together on a long-term government funding bill that works for workers, families, and the economy,” she said. “I want to be very clear: This is a good step, but cannot be the end of our bipartisan work. Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the House — but they have committed to working with us to finally pass immigration legislation, and I am going to keep fighting to protect Dreamers and their families and to hold Republicans accountable until this gets done.”
Sen. Maria Cantwell echoed Murray’s sentiments in explaining why she voted against the bill.
“While I support a number of the provisions in this bill, it is wrong that President Trump and Senator (Mitch) McConnell are once again forcing Americans to choose between financial security for community health centers and addressing the affordable housing crisis; between funding our military and solving our wildfire challenges; and between addressing the opioid crisis and Dreamers looking to secure their bright future,” Cantwell said in a statement. “It is wrong to ignore the burden this deficit funded spending places on future generations, particularly after the trillion and half dollar giveaway to corporations and the wealthiest Americans that Republicans engineered just a few weeks ago.
Herrera Beutler voted against the bill. In a statement released through her spokeswoman, she said, “The bill contained zero reforms to prevent ‘fire borrowing’ that has hurt our forests, it failed to address Secure Rural Schools, and added $300 billion to the deficit over the next two years — more than the most pessimistic projections for the tax cut for the same period. It also increased the debt ceiling with no corresponding deficit relief, and I’ve never voted for a ‘clean’ raise of the borrowing limit without a substantial commitment to debt reduction.
“While the agreement does include some Southwest Washington priorities I’ve championed — the children’s health insurance program, relief for fishery disasters, extending community health center funding, eliminating IPAB and its rationing of care for seniors, and removing the Medicare therapy cap — on balance it was more negative than positive, and I couldn’t support it.”
