The White House is trying to put pressure on House Republicans over fentanyl as Democrats and the GOP prepare for a fall fight over government funding.
“With House Republicans on the verge of breaking with the Senate GOP and turning their back on the funding commitment they made to the American people, they need to remember that lives are at stake in the government funding debate,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates wrote in a Tuesday memo.
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Bates described House Republicans as having “a stark choice” between shutting down the government and taking action regarding “life and death priorities like fighting the fentanyl crisis,” referring to President Joe Biden‘s $800 million proposal “to fight fentanyl trafficking.”
“Will they break their promise and choose to shut down the government — hurting our economy, undermining our disaster preparedness, and forcing our troops to work without getting their paychecks — all to appease Marjorie Taylor Greene and her far-right friends’ demands for a baseless impeachment stunt simply to politically attack the president?” he asked.
Bates also cited polling underscoring public concern related to fentanyl and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s (R-KY) comments last week with respect to House Republicans passing lower spending levels that are “not going to be replicated in the Senate.”
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“The DEA, Border Patrol, and Department of Homeland Security need the anti-fentanyl funding President Biden is seeking. Lives are at stake,” Bates repeated.
Congress has 17 legislative days to reach a funding deal to avoid a government shutdown on Sept. 30. The House Freedom Caucus has issued a series of demands in exchange for its support of a continuing resolution, a stopgap measure providing lawmakers with more time to come to an agreement, including border security investments, reductions in Justice Department spending, and “anti-woke” Pentagon reforms.
