Justice mum on government funding vote
Mooney expresses support for Jordan for House Speaker
Gov. Jim Justice said Thursday he could not say how he would have voted on the resolution to fund the government through mid-November. (Photo courtesy of the WV Governor’s Office)
U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney announced his support for U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)
Gov. Jim Justice said Thursday he could not say how he would have voted on the resolution to fund the government through mid-November. (Photo courtesy of the WV Governor’s Office)
U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney announced his support for U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)
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CHARLESTON -- Last weekend's vote to keep the government funded is becoming a part of the U.S. Senate Republican primary in West Virginia, with one of those candidates announcing his support for a candidate to be the next speaker of the House of Representatives.
Gov. Jim Justice, the GOP frontrunner in the 2024 Republican primary for Senate, said Thursday he had no idea how he would have voted on a continuing resolution to fund the government for 45 days, while his closest opponent, Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., has hit Justice for his silence.
During Justice's weekly administration briefing Thursday from the Capitol, WV MetroNews reporter Brad McElhinny asked Justice how he would have voted on the continuing resolution Saturday that keeps the government funded until Nov. 17.
"I won't give you how I would have voted because first and foremost I'm not voting today," Justice said. "The reason I'm not voting today is I don't have all the information, do I?"
On the brink of a government shutdown Saturday, the House of Representatives voted 335-91 in favor of the short-term continuing resolution. Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., voted in favor of the continuing resolution, while Mooney voted against the continuing resolution.
But the continuing resolution vote cost House Speaker Kevin McCarthy his gavel. The House voted Tuesday 216-210 to remove McCarthy as speaker after Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., made a motion to vacate the chair. Both Mooney and Miller voted against the motion.
The House is out until next week, despite calls from some, including Mooney, to keep the House in session to pick a new leader. Names being floated include House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the founding chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. Mooney, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, announced his support for Jordan Thursday.
"I am proud to support my good friend Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House," Mooney said. "Jim is a proven conservative fighter who has led the battle against out-of-control government spending since he was first elected. I have no doubt that he would stand strong against President Biden and lead the Republican Majority in the House to follow the advice he laid out in his book 'Do What You Said You Would Do.'"
A spokesperson for Miller said Thursday she has yet to decide on the speaker issue and was still talking to potential candidates.
Mooney has made Justice's past support for multi-billion-dollar federal spending packages a part of his campaign for U.S. Senate and attacks on Justice, whom the Mooney campaign accused of silence on whether he supported the continuing resolution.
Mooney Campaign Manager John Findlay accused Justice Thursday evening of being afraid to take a stand on federal spending and avoiding questions about how he would have voted.
"Every Republican in West Virginia has an opinion on whether the government should have stayed open or not. Everyone but Jim Justice," Findlay said. "He can't be straight with the people of West Virginia because he supports the skyrocketing Washington spending. Not having an opinion disqualifies him for the U.S. Senate."
The Mooney campaign accused Justice of being supportive of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the $737 billion Inflation Reduction Act despite Justice blasting Manchin's support for the IRA earlier this year.
Speaking Thursday, Justice decried the chaos on Capitol Hill and the growing amount of federal spending, calling on federal officials to find ways to cut spending without hurting working families.
"Anybody in their right mind that looks at Washington, D.C., today would have to say good Lord, what a mess," Justice said. "Anybody who would look at the bloated federal budget today and all the dollars we spend and just throw away in every direction known to man would have to think surely to God above we can do a little bit better about spending the taxpayers' dollars than what's been done today."
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.