The one-seat majority that voted to pass President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill” Thursday would have had additional room to clear the chamber if one House Republican had not been sleeping during the vote.
New York Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a moderate New York Republican who has been serving in Congress since 2021, missed the consequential vote after the House had been debating the president’s landmark tax and spending bill overnight. The president’s budget bill passed the House early Thursday morning with just one vote to spare in a vote of 215-214, with House Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris voting present.
Republican Reps. Warren Davidson of Ohio and Thomas Massie of Kentucky voted against the bill incorporating a major chunk of the president’s legislative agenda, citing concerns about the deficit impact of the bill.
A spokesperson for Garbarino said the centrist Long Island Republican supported Trump’s landmark bill, but “inadvertently” skipped the vote after briefly stepping out of the House chamber.
“After sitting through proceedings all night, the Congressman briefly stepped out and inadvertently missed the vote,” a spokesperson for Garbarino said in a statement obtained by Politico. “He was present throughout the lead-up to the legislation’s consideration and fully intended to support it. This is one of many reasons why governing should happen in the light of day — not in the dead of night.”
Speaker Mike Johnson, who described Garbarino as a “dear friend” in a press conference following the successful vote, was more blunt.
The speaker noted that his New York colleague had dozed off in the back of the House chamber during the vote.
“Andrew Garbarino did not make it in time,” Johnson said. “He fell asleep in the back. No kidding.”
“I’m going to just strangle him,” Johnson jokingly added.
Republican Arizona Rep. David Schweikert, who serves on the committee tasked with writing the tax portion of the bill, was also recorded as not voting.
A spokesperson for Schweikert did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. Johnson said Schweikert also intended to support the bill, but cast his vote just after the time to vote elapsed.
“It looks like a razor thin margin, 215 to 214 and one present,” Johnson noted. “It was really 217. Will you all [reporters] put a footnote somewhere in history on that thing?”
House lawmakers had gotten little sleep over the past several days as House GOP leadership raced to pass the president’s legislative agenda before their deadline of Memorial Day.
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