After working through most of the night, the House Rules Committee on Wednesday morning voted along party lines to advance the legislation that will end the longest government shutdown in US history as early as today.

Refreshed from a lengthy break, courtesy of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) desire not to vote on a measure that would compel the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files, GOP lawmakers bravely protected the “America First” priorities in the bill.

For example, they voted down an attempt to extend the Obamacare subsidies that make health insurance more affordable for millions of Americans, blocked an effort to prevent the administration from using $40 billion in taxpayer money to prop up Argentina’s economy just because Donald Trump likes their president, and protected language allowing a few Republican senators to personally enrich themselves just because DOJ had dared to investigate the president’s 2020 coup attempt.

In other words, in spite of their Epstein vacation, they haven’t missed a beat.

To be fair, for the sake of making a point, we are being a bit too hard on Republicans with regard to that last provision.

Several GOP lawmakers were rightfully incensed that the Senate added it to a must-pass bill.

“It is beside my comprehension that this got put in the bill, and it’s why people have such a low opinion of this town,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX). “That provision needs to get fixed, and we need to find a way as a body to get it fixed as soon as possible.”

Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) stated he was very excited to vote on legislation to reopen the government until he saw what the Senate had done.

He even read part of the text of the “payday provision” and voiced his severe displeasure with it.

Snuck into the bill by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), it entitles senators whose data was collected as part of the probe into Trump’s attempted coup to payments of at least $500,000.

In spite of their misgivings, the committee’s Republican majority voted to keep it in the bill in order to end the shutdown as quickly as possible.

Had they changed even one word, the measure would have had to go back to the Senate.

However, based on the reaction of House Republicans, it seems as though Thune may now wish that he had not added the provision, which seems like a taxpayer-funded grift.

In light of the negative attention it has received, it seems unlikely that it will remain on the books or that any of the GOP senators for whom it was written will be brazen enough to cash in.

Even the fact that it will be included in the final bill is a terrible look for Republicans, and we will likely hear a lot about this provision from congressional Democrats in coming days as an example of how Trump’s self-serving behavior seems to be rubbing off on GOP senators.