Two House Republicans Missed Key Vote on Major GOP Domestic Policy Bill
It was the biggest vote of the 119th Congress so far — and they missed it.
GOP Reps. Andrew Garbarino of New York and David Schweikert of Arizona were both recorded as not voting on the Republican domestic policy megabill that passed the House early Thursday morning.
Both were surprising: They had each played key roles in the legislation — Garbarino as a moderate advocate for clean-energy tax credits and raising the cap on the state-and-local-tax deduction, and Schweikert as a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee.
A spokesperson for Garbarino initially said “briefly stepped out and inadvertently missed the vote.” In a subsequent statement, Garbarino himself said “the vote was closed before I was able to cast my vote.”
Speaker Mike Johnson gave reporters a more succinct account: “He fell asleep in the back, no kidding.”
“I’m going to just strangle him,” Johnson joked, “but he’s my dear friend.”
Johnson said Schweikert, the Arizona lawmaker, arrived also late to the chamber and the vote gaveled closed before his vote could be counted. A Schweikert spokesperson said he’d just gotten to the floor as the vote closed.
Garbarino said he was “proud of the work we accomplished to deliver huge results for Long Island