Byron Donalds says House leadership closed voting on CR because he was voting ‘no’

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) explained why he missed a House vote on a continuing resolution on Saturday, speculating House leadership had closed the vote to ensure the resolution’s passage.

The House passed a clean continuing resolution to keep the government funded at current spending levels for another 45 days, which was later passed in the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown. On social media, Donalds explained that he was planning to vote “no” to the resolution that “continues Pelosi’s reckless spending” and “fails to secure our border,” but that voting had closed before he got the chance to vote.

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“I was coming up the elevator in the Capitol Building to go vote,” Donalds said in a Sunday interview. “They closed the vote down because there were members on the House floor who were changing their votes from yes to no. I was told that there were senators on our floor begging our leadership to close the votes so the measure would have, ’cause it needed two-thirds. The leadership knew I was a no. If I was a yes, they would have held the vote open for me; they didn’t. It’s that simple.”

When discussing the resolution itself, Donalds described it as “a terrible deal for the American people,” noting that the southern border is still not secure and inflation is still high. In response to a claim that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) made saying that “MAGA Republicans” lost through this vote, Donalds stated that wanting a secure vote and cutting down on government spending is not “MAGA Republican” but “common sense.”

Donalds was also asked about House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and stated he believes McCarthy is “in trouble” over his lack of “strong leadership” in the House of Representatives. When asked if he would vote for a motion to vacate McCarthy from the speakership, Donalds stated, “I don’t know right now.”

“I gotta really think about that because there is a lot of stuff going on in the building behind us,” Donalds said.

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The resolution, signed late Saturday night by Biden, gives Congress an extra 45 days to pass its annual appropriations bill to approve funding for the next fiscal year. The continuing resolution includes all of Biden’s $16 billion supplemental request for disaster relief and funds the government at fiscal 2023 levels.

Republican 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has criticized the passage of the resolution, calling it “a deflection.” He also called for the end to the “artificial debate about fake government shutdowns” and how to achieve “a true shutdown of the administrative state.”