Rep. Babin to Vote No on Spending Deal

Barely 24 hours after the compromise on the spending bill was unveiled by House Speaker Paul Ryan, freshman Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, told Newsmax he would vote against the package.

Babin's reason: The measure continues to fully fund the office that oversees resettlement of refugees arriving from Syria and other Middle East hotspots.

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax on Thursday morning, Babin said he was "very, very disappointed" with the compromise package that "includes no language whatsoever that halts or even temporarily suspends funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement."

"There's some good things in this, such as the lifting of the ban on exporting crude oil," the Texan told us, recalling how he was an original co-sponsor of lifting the ban and that the energy community within his district would be a major beneficiary of enactment of the measure.

"It's a great thing, but it's not enough to offset the danger to our national security," Babin quickly added. "So unless they make some very serious changes before the vote, which is scheduled for Friday, I have to vote no.

"National security far outweighs anything else we can get in the Omnibus."

Babin also pointed out that, to his surprise and disappointment, there is an additional $100 million going to the Office of Refugee Resettlement "to bring in more refugees. And this is as our FBI director [James Comey] says we don't have the resources to properly vet an influx of refugees." 

Two weeks ago, Babin sent a letter to colleagues requesting the House leadership insert the defunding of the resettlement program in the Omnibus Spending Bill until Congress can "reassert its authority and have oversight over the program." Roughly 75 of his colleagues in the House co-signed the letter.

"And not only does the Omnibus keep the spending of the resettlement program, but we didn't even get the language in from the SAFE [Security Against Foreign Enemies] Act, which was supported by 47 Democrats," he said, referring to the legislation passed in the House that would have placed a six-month moratorium on any refugees arriving in the U.S.

In declaring his opposition to the spending measure, Babin refrained from criticism of Speaker Ryan.

"I believe he inherited this from [former Speaker John] Boehner and he came in at a point where he couldn't do anything about it," the freshman lawmaker told us. "He told our [House Republican] Conference that omnibus proposals at the last minute are not the way to do business and he doesn't like doing this way. Next year, hopefully, we'll do things according to regular order."