'My patience has run out': GOP senator calls Johnson’s delay in funding government 'absurd'

27 February 2024

On Tuesday, the "Big Four" congressional leaders — House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) — met with President Joe Biden in the White House to hammer out an agreement on funding the government ahead of a looming deadline. One Senate Republican is publicly expressing his frustrations with his GOP colleagues.

During a gaggle with reporters on Capitol Hill, Sen. Josh Hawley told CNN congressional reporter Manu Raju that he was frustrated over Congress' months-long delay in passing a bill to keep the government funded and avoid a shutdown. While he didn't name any specific Republicans, Hawley chided "leadership" on not ironing out hangups before the upcoming March 1 deadline.

"This was supposed to be done in September. I mean this is now almost March? I mean, this is just ridiculous. they have agreement on the [budget] top line. They've had it since January," Hawley said. "This is why I voted against the last [continuing resolution]. They've just been kicking this can down the road. I can't believe that they didn't get work done over the weekend."

"They've had months to do this stuff, I mean my patience has run out," Hawley added. "[T]hey're all to blame. And at this point it's just absurd."

Schumer reportedly called the White House meeting "productive and intense," particularly on the topic of Ukraine funding. According to Raju, McConnell was the most outspoken proponent of sending a new supplemental foreign aid package to aid Ukraine as quickly as possible — particularly as the Ukrainian military was recently forced to surrender the city of Avdiivka to Russian forces due to not having enough ammunition.

Raju later told CNN host Dana Bash that the current disagreement on funding "boils down to a Republican-on-Republican dispute," saying that McConnell called for a funding bill to be passed quickly without any "poison pills" that would give individual members pause about supporting it. He also described a significant amount of "Republican-on-Republican division" on Ukraine. While Speaker Johnson insisted on not passing Ukraine aid before holding a vote on additional funding for the Southern border, he previously refused to hold a vote on $14 billion in border funding earlier this month after former President Donald Trump threatened Republicans considering it.

Watch video of Hawley's remarks below, or by clicking this link.

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