Video posted to social media on Sunday cast doubt on Representative Lauren Boebert‘s excuse for missing the House vote on raising the federal debt ceiling.
The United States House of Representatives voted last week on a bipartisan bill to raise the debt limit while cutting federal spending in some areas after months of negotiations between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, and President Joe Biden. The compromise legislation passed with bipartisan support, though a number of legislators from both parties voted against it.
Boebert, a Colorado Republican, was one of four members of Congress to miss the vote. Her absence quickly garnered attention since she was one of the most vocal critics of the bill who pledged to vote against it.
The congresswoman then attempted to explain her absence from the vote in a video posted to Twitter on Saturday, describing her absence as a “no show protest” and that she “refused to be apart of” the “garbage of a bill.”
“Hey, everyone, I’m back in Colorado, but let’s talk about D.C.,” Boebert said in the video. “No excuses, I was ticked off they wouldn’t let me do my job, so I didn’t take the vote. Once again, Washington’s power machine shoved a multi-trillion-dollar bill down our throats, refused to allow debate or amendments, disregarded everything we fought for in January to actually allow representatives to do their jobs.”
However, Morgan Rimmer, an associate producer for CNN, posted video to Twitter on Sunday afternoon that cast doubt on that explanation.
“Here is a clip from that night outside the Capitol, showing Rep. Boebert running up the stairs as though she was trying to make the vote, and me telling her that it had closed already,” Rimmer tweeted.
The video showed the GOP lawmaker running up the stairs of the U.S. Capitol building the evening of the vote, with Rimmer telling her “they closed it,” in reference to the voting on the bill. Boebert asks back, “They closed it?” and continues running toward the Capitol.
Here is a clip from that night outside the Capitol, showing Rep. Boebert running up the stairs as though she was trying to make the vote, and me telling her that it had closed already.
*running up steps*Me: They closed it. Boebert: They closed it?*keeps running* https://t.co/Zwr6Jp3JnH pic.twitter.com/HG76kWv7NJ
— Morgan Rimmer (@morgan_rimmer) June 4, 2023
Boebert has not publicly addressed the video, and Newsweek reached out to Boebert’s office for comment via email.
Rimmer’s video appears to back up a tweet from Axios reporter Juliegrace Brufke, who tweeted Wednesday night, “Rep. Lauren Boebert narrowly missed the vote, running up the steps right as they gaveled.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert narrowly missed the vote, running up the steps right as they gaveled.
— Juliegrace Brufke (@juliegraceb) June 1, 2023
Boebert Was Staunch Opponent of Debt Ceiling Bill
Prior to missing the vote over the debt ceiling bill, Boebert was among the most vocal House conservatives who opposed the bill. Some on the right said the bill did not go far enough in cutting federal spending and that it would be fiscally irresponsible to pass the bill, despite the economic consequences that would follow a default caused by the U.S. hitting that limit.
“Our base didn’t volunteer, door knock and fight so hard to get us the majority for this kind of compromise deal with Joe Biden,” the Colorado Republican tweeted prior to the vote. “Our voters deserve better than this. We work for them. You can count me as a NO on this deal. We can do better.”
Boebert’s vote would not have made a difference in the bill, which passed the House 314-117. In total, 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats voted against the legislation, which has since passed the Senate and been signed by Biden.
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