Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican, said joining a bipartisan vote to avert a government shutdown was "the responsible thing to do."
“We need to keep the government open particularly at this critical time, where we are seeing our major ally at war. We are seeing threats grow here at home,” she said Wednesday in an interview on "Mornings On 1." “It's also right before the holidays. I mean, to tell our federal employees and military personnel they won't receive paychecks – I don't think there's a big appetite for that.”
The House of Representatives passed legislation in a 336-95 vote Tuesday night to fund federal agencies until the new year.
The legislation, which still awaits approval from the Senate, aims to allocate funding for some government agencies through Jan. 19 and others through Feb. 2.
Despite the successful passage of the stopgap bill, 93 Republicans opposed the measure, necessitating House Speaker Mike Johnson to rely on Democratic support for passage.
“I think that what some of my colleagues don't get on the Republican side, unfortunately, is that we control 1/3 of the government, right?” Malliotakis said. “Democrats still control the Senate and the White House and therefore we need to have negotiation, we need to have compromise. We're not going to get everything that we want.”
Malliotakis also reassured constituents that although Republicans may not have achieved all their objectives with the stopgap bill, efforts would continue to advance individual legislation.
“It's important for people to know though we are taking up the individual appropriation bills as Republicans want to be passed seven out of the 12 already. The Senate has passed three of the 12,” she said. “We simply need more time to do the remaining bills. And then we will have a more responsible budget.”