GOP lawmakers recently joined Democrats in saving the salaries of left-leaning bureaucrats from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by striking down several attempts from fellow Republicans to defund them as part of an appropriations bill that passed the GOP-led House.
Such divide in the votes of the Republican conference comes after it unanimously passed legislation to derive $14 billion from the Internal Revenue System’s (IRS) funding for Israel, America’s strongest ally, as the Holy Land defends itself against Hamas, a terrorist organization.
The appropriations bill, entitled the “Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024,” recently passed the House by a vote of 213-203, as reported by Just the News.
.@SpeakerJohnson: Republicans are passing appropriations bills that are fiscally responsible.
Bidenomics is “turning the American Dream into a mirage for millions of Americans. We feel that acutely here, and that’s why House Republicans will not stop until we get this job done. pic.twitter.com/yQeBAdD2GY
— GOP (@GOP) November 2, 2023
House Republicans were able to bring up the “Holman Rule” as part of the GOP conference rules package. The rule allows lawmakers to insert provisions into appropriations bills that allow them to fire federal bureaucrats or defund their salaries, per Just the News.
Several Republicans introduced measures to reduce the salaries of specific EPA administrators, but such efforts were fruitless after fellow GOP colleagues sided with the opposition to vote against them, the Daily Caller reported.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) introduced an amendment to “reduce the salary of Elizabeth Klein, Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to $1.” The Colorado congresswoman’s resolution, though, failed by a final vote of 163-216.
Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) also introduced an amendment to “reduce the salary of Ya-Wei (Jake) Li, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pesticide Programs to $1.” Again, such a measure was ultimately struck down, with 59 Republicans joining Democrats In voting against Miller’s amendment.
Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) introduced a resolution to defund the salary of the chairwoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Brenda Mallory, but the measure was struck down by a vote of 161-21, with 49 Republicans siding with Democrats in blocking the amendment.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) sought to drastically cut the salary of EPA Administrator Michael Reagan, but his efforts were unsuccessful after 60 Republicans voted against it.
Norman also introduced an amendment to “reduce the salary of Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior, to $1.” Again, the South Carolina lawmaker’s attempts to do so failed after 59 Republicans joined Democrats in siding against the measure.
Rep. Richard McCormick (R-GA) brought forth an amendment to cut the salary of the deputy assistant administrator for the EPA, Matthew Tejada, but it failed after 47 Republicans and all Democrats voted against it.
