Healthcare, spending lead to handful of GOP votes against two-week spending bill

A small number of Republicans voted against the two-week continuing resolution (CR) on Tuesday night as a way to protest the bill's funding of last year's healthcare law, and the absence of larger cuts.

Six Republicans ended up rejecting the bill: Reps. Justin Amash (Mich.), Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Walter Jones (N.C), Steve King (Iowa), and Ron Paul (Texas). Bachmannn said her vote against the GOP bill was over healthcare.

"I agree with the need to cut spending, but I voted against the two-week CR today because it did not include language to defund ObamaCare," Bachmann said. "Over the coming years, ObamaCare will hurt our economy so defunding it must remain part of our negotiations on a CR."

Bachmann also argued that funding for last year's healthcare law should not be needed over the next two weeks. "The real question to consider: Do President Obama and Harry Reid actually need to keep funding ObamaCare for the next two weeks?" she asked.

King also said he rejected the bill because it kept funding for the law, and also for Planned Parenthood. Republicans voted to repeal federal funding for both programs in its full FY 2011 spending bill in February.

King, a very vocal opponent of the healthcare law, took to the floor Tuesday evening to continue arguing against it. "There are at least 21 different components to Obamacare that are beneficiaries of funding" in the CR approved today, King said.

Gohmert spoke with King, and said he also voted against the short-term bill because it did not "continue the hard fought battle" to defund the healthcare law.

Amash said the spending did not go far enough, which is why he rejected it.

"Just voted no on H J Res 44, the two-week continuing resolution (budget) for FY 2011," Amash wrote on his Facebook page.

"I support the efforts of my GOP colleagues to move the budget process along so that we can work toward serious spending reductions," Amash continued. "Unfortunately, this budget cuts spending at the rate of only $133 million/week or $6.95 billion/year. That's four-tenths of one percent of our annual deficit."