On Monday, Joe Biden threatened to veto several bills introduced by Republicans in Congress that would shut down funding for far-left initiatives promoting diversity, the LGBT agenda, and abortion.
As reported by Fox News, the White House statement declared that Biden “strongly opposes” the appropriations bills for both the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Agriculture, which are supported by the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
“These bills include billions in additional rescissions from the [Inflation Reduction Act] and other vital legislation that would result in unacceptable harm to clean energy and to energy efficiency initiatives that lower energy costs and critical investments in rural America,” the White House claimed.
“The draft bills also include numerous new, partisan policy provisions with devastating consequences, including harming access to reproductive health care, threatening the health and safety of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) Americans, endangering marriage equality, hindering critical climate change initiatives, and preventing the administration from promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion,” the statement continued.
The two bills in question are among the 12 overall spending bills that Congress aims to pass prior to the deadline of September 30th, after which point a partial government shutdown would take place if an agreement is not reached on any of them.
As a result of the GOP’s extremely thin majority in the lower chamber, conservatives have had a greater influence over Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and have repeatedly achieved numerous concessions and hardline conservative policies, including spending cuts in the House Appropriations Committee.
The Biden Administration pointed to a debt ceiling negotiation earlier this year that was struck with Congress, which was passed via the Fiscal Responsibility Act, saying that Republicans should have used that process to address their current spending concerns.
“House Republicans had an opportunity to engage in a productive, bipartisan appropriations process,” the statement said. “But instead, with just over two months before the end of the fiscal year, are wasting time with partisan bills that cut domestic spending to levels well below the FRA agreement and endanger critical services for the American people.”
The White House’s opposition sets up for another showdown with Republicans in the coming months, as the GOP has similarly signaled their intention to oppose any appropriation bills that do not reduce spending.
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