Indiana Republican: Leaders duped me

Rep. Marlin Stutzman is claiming he was duped by his own GOP leaders.

The Indiana Republican said he voted Thursday on a rule advancing the $1.1 trillion government funding bill after leadership told him they planned to yank the massive measure and replace it with a more palatable short-term funding bill.

{mosads}Stutzman’s vote proved crucial to the 1,600-page bill’s final passage late Thursday night, given that the procedural rule vote passed 214-212, just a one-vote margin.

If Stutzman and outgoing Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.) had not switched their vote on the rule to “yes,” the entire package, known as the “cromnibus,” would have been defeated.

“I supported the rule because I was informed by leadership that the cromnibus was dead and a short term CR [continuing resolution] would take its place,” Stutzman said in a statement after the vote. 

“I was very surprised and even more disappointed to see the cromnibus back on the floor. The American people deserve better.”

This past summer, Stutzman lost a three-way race for majority whip, a job that went to Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.).

The Indiana congressman said, while the trillion-dollar spending package is large and does many things, it fails to stop President Obama’s executive action on immigration and “fails to include many of the solutions that could have been passed in January with a Republican House and Senate in an open process.”