Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, walks up the House steps for the vote on the budget resolution in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, April 10, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
If successful, the resolution would have directed Trump to remove U.S. military forces from Venezuela, despite the administration saying there are no boots on the ground as is.
When asked before the vote if he was representing his constituents well, Hunt declined to answer, saying that he had returned to make sure lawmakers and their staff could leave town on schedule.
"I just want to make sure that y'all are OK when the storm hits, because it's coming, especially here in D.C. It's gonna hit y'all really, really hard," Hunt said, referring to a snowstorm forecast to hit the nation’s capital over the weekend.
Having cast his vote, Hunt immediately left the chamber.
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"Y'all be safe. Y'all be safe. Y'all be safe. This storm is coming," Hunt said as he got into a car.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Hunt’s absence did not make his job "any easier" after the Texas Republican missed a separate vote that Republicans narrowly won earlier in the day.
Rep. Wesley Hunt blasted Sen. John Cornyn over his alleged anti-Trump voting record. (Allison Robbert/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
The office also contended that GOP leadership had said Hunt would not be needed in D.C. during the week and that Johnson had called Hunt personally on Thursday afternoon, informing him that the picture had changed.
"In the middle of his campaign to retire a career politician of over 40 years, Hunt left the campaign trail, rushed to Washington and delivered the deciding vote that nuked the radical Democrats’ plan to block President Trump from securing the Western Hemisphere," Hunt’s office said.
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Hunt is running to unseat Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. In response to Hunt’s absences, Cornyn blasted Hunt’s behavior on Thursday in a post to X.
"Fortunately for Republicans, Hunt’s vote wasn’t needed to ensure the final spending package was approved, but [he] nearly handed Democrats a PR coup and created chaos on the House floor as GOP leaders were forced to hold open a vote on a measure to block U.S. military presence in Venezuela," Cornyn wrote.
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-lawmakers-absence-nearly-hands-democrats-win-trump-war-powers