Area congressional reps. respond to passage of House funding bill to avoid government shutdown

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The congressional representatives for the Borderland are reacting to the passage of a bill to fund the government through March, initially making it's way out of the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate Friday Night.

In a statement, Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) for El Paso said, "I’m proud to have cast a vote to continue funding the government and ensure our 20,000 federal employees in El Paso and the 90,000 soldiers and their families at Fort Bliss are paid for the next three months and ahead of the holidays. Republicans have set a dangerous precedent by allowing an unelected billionaire to spread misinformation and hijack weeks of negotiations to fund our government. Although the latest version of the funding bill does not include many of the critically needed funding provisions that were in the original bill, a bipartisan agreement was reached.”

ABC-7 reached out to the office of Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), representing areas stretching from the eastern part of El Paso county to the outskirts of San Antonio. We have not heard back yet from him or his staff, but online voting records for the House show that Rep. Gonzales voted against the funding bill, one of 34 Republicans total to do so.

From the southern district of New Mexico, Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) sent this statement on the vote. "Today, I voted to avoid a government shutdown and stop the Republican chaos in favor of hard-working New Mexicans who would have been impacted by yet another manufactured crisis,” Vasquez said. “By voting in favor of the bill, I’m supporting farmers, communities devastated by natural disasters, service men and women and their families and many more. I’ll continue to be a champion for New Mexicans and support New Mexican values.”