Republican Senator Josh Hawley said on Tuesday his patience has run out amid another possible government shutdown as he criticized both sides of House leadership, stating that it’s “just ridiculous” that a funding agreement hasn’t been decided on sooner.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden met with Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle including House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to discuss a possible compromise on different legislation, such as government funding to avoid a shutdown and military aid to Ukraine and Israel.
A bill to provide military aid to Ukraine and Israel previously passed in the Senate but Johnson initially expressed opposition to voting in favor of it in the House. However, without a compromise met by members on both sides of the aisle, Congress will enter a partial shutdown.
Speaking with CNN’s Manu Raju on Tuesday, Hawley, of Missouri, criticized the amount of time it has taken to reach a funding agreement in order to avoid a government shutdown.
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“This was supposed to be done in September. I mean, this is now almost March? Well, this is just ridiculous. They have agreement on the top line. They’ve had it since January. This is why I voted against the last CR. They’ve just been kicking the can down the road. I can’t believe that they didn’t get work done over the weekend. They had months to do this stuff. I mean, I—my patience has run out,” Hawley said.
When asked by Raju who is to blame, Hawley continued to explain that “leadership is to blame,” further explaining that both sides are to blame.
“Yeah, of course. Yeah, all of them. Yeah. They’re all the blame. I mean at this point it’s just it’s absurd, I think,” Hawley added.
Newsweek has reached out to Hawley’s and Johnson’s office and the White House via email for comment.
This comes as Johnson was quoted saying to a reporter regarding a government shutdown, “No, we’re going to work to prevent that” as he headed into Tuesday’s meeting with Biden and other top U.S. leaders.
Meanwhile, Biden also spoke about working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle saying, “We got a lot of work to do, we gotta figure out how we’re gonna figure out keep funding the government which is an important problem and an important solution we need to find and I think we can do that.”
However, this is also not the first time Hawley has taken aim at GOP leadership. Earlier this month Hawley slammed GOP leadership as a “total embarrassment” after the Senate failed to pass a bipartisan bill aimed at addressing the U.S.-Mexico border amid a rise in migrant arrivals.
The Senate voted down the bipartisan legislation, which would also have allocated funds to U.S. allies such as Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine by a vote of 49-50. The vote was largely on party lines, with five Democrats opposing the bill and four Republicans supporting it, but added to questions about whether Congress would be able to act on immigration reform and border security amid deep divisions over the issue.
GOP leadership is now facing backlash from many conservatives over the legislation. Hawley, a conservative who voted against the bill, lashed out at leadership in remarks to Punchbowl News.
“Oh, I think Republican leadership has shown they’re a well-oiled machine. They just do great. Couldn’t be improved upon. Absolutely have it all together. Very impressive. No, it’s a total embarrassment,” he said.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.