Womack only member of Arkansas delegation to vote for stopgap spending measure

Womack only member of Arkansas delegation to vote for stopgap spending measure

LITTLE ROCK — Legislation to avoid a government shutdown cleared the House and Senate on Wednesday with the support of only one member of Arkansas’ congressional delegation.

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, voted for the continuing resolution to keep federal agencies funded through Dec. 11. The bill passed 277-155 in the House after the Senate approved it earlier in the day in a 78-20 vote.

Some Republicans in Congress opposed the measure because it contained funding for Planned Parenthood, which has been at the center of controversy over its practice in some states — not including Arkansas — of providing fetal tissue from abortions for scientific research. Critics says undercover videos made by an anti-abortion group call into question the organization’s ethics; Planned Parenthood says the videos are deceptively edited.

Womack said Wednesday in a statement, “Shutting down the government would not end funding for Planned Parenthood — it would only deny millions of federal and military employees the paychecks they need to support their families.”

He said he remains opposed to funding Planned Parenthood.

“Make no mistake, Planned Parenthood’s actions are unethical and indefensible, and we must turn our attention to ensuring that its main federal funding — mandatory spending — is stopped once and for all. I will continue to fight to protect the unborn and to stop any federal funds that support these unethical practices, while also protecting hardworking families across the nation,” Womack said.Republican Sens.Tom Cotton and John Boozman and Reps. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, and French Hill, R-Little Rock, voted against the spending measure.

Cotton said in a statement Wednesday, “The defense spending in this resolution is wholly inadequate to confront the dangers we face today. Our military, suffering from years of neglect, has seen its relative strength decline to historic levels. Put simply, it’s reached its breaking point as it attempts to respond to proliferating threats around the world from terrorist groups like ISIS. Congress must act now to stop the devastating cuts to our military and protect our national security.”

Boozman spokesman Patrick Creamer said, “Sen. Boozman believes that we should be considering the 12 appropriations bills that he and his colleagues worked for months to pass out of committee. Senate appropriators worked very hard to ensure that these bills reflect the spending and policy priorities that are right for our nation. These 12 bills are what we should be voting on, not another continuing resolution.”

Westerman said his vote against the resolution “was a vote against the status quo.”

He said his goal as a member of Congress is to restore fiscal responsibility by stopping deficit spending and reducing the national debt.

“The first step in doing this is to pass appropriations bills in regular order and then work with the Senate to resolve differences,” Westerman said. “We should not be running our government with last-minute votes before deadlines and especially when these bills are thrown together by the Senate that refuses take up legislation passed in regular order by the House. This has happened time and again. It is no way to run our government.”

Crawford said the resolution “simply authorizes our already budget-busting spending levels without even allowing law-makers the discretion to legislate how we spend our very limited resources.”

“Without a fiscally responsible annual appropriations process, Congress is denied its clear constitutional authority to choose how tax dollars are spent, and that includes the authority to deny spending for an organization currently under investigation for illegally trafficking fetal tissue, Planned Parenthood,” he said.

Hill said, “Congress and the president need to engage in thoughtful negotiations on how to properly spend the taxpayers’ money. The House has passed all 12 appropriations bills through committee, and has sent six to the Senate. We need to uphold our promise to the American people to fund the government through the normal appropriations process, and my vote today reflects that belief.”

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