WASHINGTON -- Republican Rep. Tom Emmer joined 150 other Republicans in voting against a measure to fund the federal government.
Emmer, who represents Minnesota's most conservative Congressional district, was the only member of the state's delegation to vote against the bill. The measure passed 277-151.
Republican Reps. John Kline and Erik Paulsen supported it. So did the five Democrats Reps. Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Rick Nolan and Collin Peterson.
In a statement, Emmer said he voted against it because he didn't like the short-term nature of the measure, which funds the federal government through Dec. 11.
Members of Congressional leadership on both sides of the aisle urged a short-term vote so they could keep the government open and continue to negotiate a longer-term spending bill that may include cash for highway funding.
"I may be new around here, but what Congress did today is what has been going on for far too long in Washington – governing by crisis," Emmer said, in an e-mail. "Today, we are not governing or investing in our future, rather, we are legislating short term fixes to long term problems with no end in sight and that is simply not good enough."
Emmer said last week at a comedy theater in DC that, "the federal government is not shutting down as far as I'm concerned."
