The two-year spending bill that ended a brief overnight government shutdown was not perfect, but it was necessary to keep the government open for business, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., told Newsmax TV.
Gowdy appeared on "Newsmax Now" and told host Kirsten Haglund he voted in favor of the bill despite the fact that it raises annual spending by roughly $250 billion.
Important: Newsmax TV is available on DirecTV Ch. 349, U-Verse 1220, DISH 216, and FiOS 615. If your cable operator does not have Newsmax TV just call and ask them to put us on – Call toll-free 1-844-500-6397 and we will connect you right away to your cable operator!
For more places to Find Newsmax TV – Click Here Now
"There's no piece of legislation that is perfect. You and I can spend the rest of the day going through this budget deal and find things that we did not like," said Gowdy, who noted the bill beefed up the military budget and provided further aid to Americans impacted by last year's disasters.
"It was not a perfect bill, it was probably a far from perfect bill, but it's better than a shutdown and as long as they have the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, there's just gonna be limitations on what can get through that body. Tremendous respect for my friends in the [House] Freedom Caucus for sticking to their guns, but ultimately we had to pass something and given the 51 votes [majority] in the Senate, this was probably the best we could do."
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., held up the process with a filibuster and ultimately ended up causing the shutdown by delaying a Senate vote on the spending bill late Thursday night. The Senate did eventually vote on and pass the measure well after midnight, and the House followed suit a few hours later.
President Donald Trump signed the bill into law Friday morning, ending the shutdown that took place when most government offices were closed anyway.
Gowdy said the three winners in the bill are the military, Trump, and people who like stability in their government.
"If you like some predictability and even though this may have been a tough pill to swallow, the ability to move through the appropriations process and the ability to provide certainty for the remainder of the fiscal year is much better than this weekly shutdown drama that we've been living with," Gowdy said.
The government was shut down for three days last month before a spending agreement was struck.