Long Island House members split over bill to avert federal shutdown

WASHINGTON — Three of the four Long Island representatives voted Tuesday to approve a short-term spending bill to keep the federal government open past Friday’s midnight deadline, when funding would stop for many federal workers and programs.

Long Island Reps. Anthony D’Esposito of Island Park, Andrew Garbarino of Bayport and Nick LaLota of Amityville stood among the 127 Republicans voting for the two-tier stopgap funding that will last through January and February.

Rep. George Santos (R-Nassau/Queens) was among the 93 Republicans who voted against the spending measure, also known as a continuing resolution, proposed by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

D’Esposito said he did not want the government to shut down.

“I voted to keep the government open and avoid a debilitating shutdown, which would have brought serious disruptions to federal programs like veterans health care services and forced our troops to work without pay,” D’Esposito said in a statement.

“The stopgap spending bill passed today provides Congress more time to negotiate and institute a long-term budget that curbs runaway spending and funds the government in a responsible matter,” he said.

Garbarino noted the bill avoided squeezing time in to vote before the holidays and said he remained committed to curbing government spending.

“This Continuing Resolution would responsibly avoid a government shutdown and allow us to continue the appropriations process while simultaneously breaking the annual cycle of bloated Christmastime omnibuses that have driven our deficit through the roof and damaged our economy,” he said in a statement.

LaLota said he supported the bill to keep the government open but added Congress must stop governing by continuing resolutions, often referred to as CRs.

“Keeping the government open and our soldiers paid is one of our most basic duties in Congress,” LaLota said in a statement. “Today’s CR will allow us to keep the government open while Congress works to cut wasteful spending via the appropriations process.”

In a virtual town hall meeting Tuesday, Santos said he opposed a government shutdown but complained about how the House passed the spending measure by simply suspending the rules for a two-minute vote.

"It is insulting to the American taxpayer that now we are expected to … vote for trillions of dollars of continued spending without any real debate or without any real regular order process," he said.

Overall, the bill passed 336-95. Republicans got a boost from 209 Democrats who helped provide votes needed under House rules to pass the bill by two-thirds of those voting.

The spending measure now goes to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday said he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have a plan to pass it, possibly on Wednesday or Thursday.

“We would like to do it as soon as possible,” he said. “The Senate has a lot of arcane rules, but McConnell and I are going to work together … to get it done as quickly as possible.”

Johnson’s novel spending measure includes two end points for spending, instead of one.

On Jan. 19, funding would expire for military and veterans programs, agriculture and food agencies, and the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

On Feb. 2, funding would end for the departments of State, Defense, Commerce, Labor, and Health and Human Services.

With Laura Figueroa Hernandez