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The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $1.2 trillion spending package late Friday morning.
Three of the nine members of the Tennessee Congressional Delegation voted in favor of the budget, the sole Democrat Steve Cohen and two Republicans.
Of the two Republicans who voted for the bill, David Kustoff (R-TN 8th District) is running unopposed by a Republican in the Primary on August 1st, 2024 but he does have a challenger for his seat with Democrat Lawrence Pivnick. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN 3rd District), also is running unopposed by another Republican in the primary, but has a Democrat challenger with Jack Allen.
Democrat Steve Cohen (D-TN 9th District) is being challenged by two Republican candidates, Charlotte Bergmann and Antwane Bohanon.
Diana Harshbarger (R-TN 1st District), Tim Burchett (R-TN 2nd District), Scott DesJarlais (R- 4thTN District), Andy Ogles (R-TN 5th District) and Mark Green (R-TN 7th District) all voted against the spending package and John Rose (R-TN 6th District) did not vote due to a scheduled surgery for his son.
A press release from Rose’s office stated, “Congressman Rose traveled back to Tennessee to be with his son, Guy, who underwent a pre-planned and successful surgery on both of his legs,” said Spokesperson Dylan Jones. “Had Congressman Rose been in attendance for the vote, he would have voted ‘NO.’ Rep. Rose has voted against every single Biden-Pelosi-Schumer ‘CR’ and each spending package ‘omnibus’ signed into law that didn’t cut federal spending in a meaningful and impactful way.”
The U.S. Senate then voted around 2 a.m. on Saturday, sending the bill to President Joe Biden’s desk where he is expected to sign it and avert a shutdown of the government.
Both Tennessee Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty voted against the package which includes funding for various departments such as Homeland Security, Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, foreign operations, financial services and the legislative branch.
Democrats and Republicans disagreed over the size of the budget. Conservatives pushed for cuts in spending so as to reduce the national debt. Progressives meanwhile wanted even more money spent on climate change initiatives and social programs.
The funding package boosts the budget for the Defense Department which will receive $824.5 billion – a $27.75 billion increase – and includes a 5.2% pay raise for troops and civilian employees retroactive to the beginning of the year. $500 million of the money is to go to Israel with another $300 million to assist Ukraine.
Funding for the Treasury Department will be slightly reduced while the Internal Revenue Service will remain the same. The Election Assistance Commission receives a small cut.
Customs and Border Protection funding grows to $19 billion, up from $3 billion, and Immigration Customs Enforcement will get $9.6 billion, up from $1.1 billion, with Republicans saying that more needs to be done to secure the border.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
15 Responses
Thank you to our members of congress that voted against this idiotic bill. Mike Johnson is a big let down. He must be a member of the uniparty. There is no other explanation. This is twice now. Another Kevin McCarthy. True republicans are in the minority. Rinos rule the party. It is so disappointing to think the republicans had the majority in the house but it is still no different how they keep putting us in deeper debt. Disguising that’s all I can say.
In God we trust not government or man.
Have a blessed day.
AMEN! KEEP UP REPORTING ON THE RINOS AND LIBERAL DEMS!
Thank You, to those that NO $1.2tn.
In 2025 the Tn delegation help lead the efforts to “claw back” much of the excessively damaging spending of the last 3yrs.
Unfortunately, it appears that Bergmann and Bohanon are not running to replace tepid conservative Chuck Fleischmann (Heritage-74%) in the 3rd but rather they are running to be the Republican sacrificial lamb aiming for the impossible task to replace Cohen (9%) in the heavily Democratic 9th. Fleischmann never has a serious opponent in the Republican primary so we must depressingly conclude that the vast majority of Republicans around Chattanooga are tepid conservatives.
@Stuart Yeah, I also caught the error and no way will Cohen not be re-elected unless G-d smites him. How Cohen can be a Democrat and call himself a Jew is beyond me, but I digress. I am surprised that Kustoff, a Republican and a Jew could vote with the Jew-hating Democraps to increase the deficit and the debt. I guess he won’t be getting any shekels from me this election cycle.
Everything the US government does has to be approved by the Jews in Washington first.
All the racial problems this country suffers are at the feet of the Jews.
They are not friends of the USA.
Not following the connection between Fleischmann and Cohen concerning Bergmann and Bohanon? Indeed, Chatanooga is tepid conservative land, but the bigger issue is that Fleischmann is the Fed’s boy. His district encompasses Oak Ridge – the DOE-owned town which is way too blue. The DOE will not allow a MAGA candidate.
Black Powder, I am not really surprised at Kustoff voting with the dems. He is definitely NOT a conservative yet he supposedly represents a mostly conservative, Republican district. His votes disappoint me more than not. Sure would like to see a strong, truly conservative challenger.
Have we ever found out anything about the “sheltering facilities” bill that Gov Lee created by executive order in summer of 2020 at 2 am? Are they being built? Where and for whom? That’s always been a question.
We need one good conservative candidate to run against Chucky the RINO. The GOP is protecting him by making it a three person race. They think we are stupid but we are well aware of their tricks. It is time for us to think about a third party made up of conservatives.
Oh Charles please no! I share your frustrations but the USA is a two party country so no conservative should waste his/her time in the never-never land of third party politics.
The Republican Party is the right-of-center party in the USA and that’s where we conservatives should stake our claim. Let’s give it our best to make the Republican Party as conservative as we can by supporting the most attractive, PROVEN conservative in the Republican primaries and try to convince a majority of our fellow citizens to join our cause.
David Kustoff and such like him are why I won’t support GOP/RNC/TNGOP. THEY are responsible for the RINO infestation in TN and US.
But surely Dwayne you vote for the most PROVEN conservative candidate in the Republican primary don’t you?
The “tepid” republiCants that support losers like Fleischmann and Kustoff will witness their state go purple and then blue. Why are there no primary challengers for these Uniparty RINOs? The Tennessee GOP should encourage more REAL Republicans to run against these weakling “Speaker Mike Johnson” types.
Send them packing in 2024!