Vivek Ramaswamy slams House-passed stopgap measure to fund the government

ANAHEIM, California — Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy criticized a just-passed stopgap measure from the House of Representatives to keep the federal government funded after he finished speaking at the California GOP convention.

The clean continuing resolution that the House passed on Saturday keeps the government funded at current spending levels for 45 days and comes less than 12 hours before the shutdown deadline, in which a government shutdown is automatically triggered.

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“My first reaction is the reaction it’s been for the last several days, which is this whole debate is a farce. It’s a deflection,” Ramaswamy said about the measure. “Even if the government were gonna shut down, we know what happens every time. They get the back pay, it comes back bigger every time. We need to stop the artificial debate about fake government shutdowns and start having a real debate — how to achieve a true shutdown of the administrative state.”

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Ramaswamy then went on to state that his presidential administration would slash the federal workforce by 75%, a stance he repeated during his convention speech and which won him applause.

“How will I handle it, is 75% headcount reduction, all budgets run through the White House, no direct negotiation or proposals of budgets,” he continued. “Right now, a lot of the appropriations bills come back and say ‘shall’ spend. Well, I want to do what the constitutional framers envisioned as actually doing, asking for permission to spend as U.S. president.

“So those are examples of the kinds of things we’re going to do. Zero-based budgeting, don’t start with last year’s budget as the baseline, start with zero, literally zero as the baseline, and then build it up for what’s actually necessary. That’s how we’re going to address a national debt crisis,” Ramaswamy added.

The House overwhelmingly voted for the continuing resolution, 335-91, surpassing the two-thirds majority threshold needed to advance the legislation on suspension and send it to the Senate for consideration. If the Senate passes the measure, it then heads to President Joe Biden to make the final decision and sign it.

Ramaswamy’s comments at the GOP convention come just three days after he participated in the second Republican National Committee primary debate in Simi Valley, California.

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Several of the candidates once again slammed Ramaswamy, with former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley delivering a shark rebuke to the first-time presidential candidate. “Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say,” Haley told Ramaswamy.

The third GOP debate will be held on Nov. 8 in Miami, Florida.

Cami Mondeaux and Reese Gorman contributed to this report.