FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — “Enough is enough,” said Rep. Jim Banks (R, IN-3) as he discussed the proposed debt ceiling hike.

Banks said he would vote against the measure as he has done before, including during the Trump administration, but he missed out on the vote just after it closed.

A spokesman of Rep. Banks provided WANE 15 with a statement regarding him missing the vote:

“The vote closed as the Congressman was walking onto the floor. He registered his no vote with the House Clerk. Congressman Banks made clear he was opposed to raising the debt limit and will continue to fight for fiscal conservatism.”

The final House vote took place Wednesday night, with the House passing a bipartisan bill to suspend the debt ceiling.

Banks thought the measure would move from the House to the Senate with majority votes from both parties.

“I suspect that it will probably pass,” he told WANE 15 earlier Wednesday. “The best thing that could happen would be for it to fail. And then the White House, the Senate and the House can come back together and negotiate something that actually sends us down a path to decrease our national debt instead of growing it.”

After the interview with WANE 15, Banks’ office provided his history of debt ceiling votes:

  1. September 2017 – NO (H.R. 601, suspends the limit)  NEW LIMIT $20.456 TRILLION
    1. Roll call on final passage was 316 – 90, with 133 yeas and 90 nays among Rs
  2. February 2018 – YES (H.R. 1892, suspends the limit) NEW LIMIT $21.988 TRILLION
    1. Roll call on final passage was 240 – 186, with 167 yeas and 67 nays among Rs
  3. August 2019 – NO (H.R. 3877, suspends the limit) SUSPENDED, NEW LIMIT $28.401 TRILLION
    1. Roll call on final passage was 284 – 149, with 65 yeas and 132 nays among Rs
  4. October 2021 – NO (H.R. 5305, increases the limit) NEW LIMIT $28.9 TRILLION
    1. Roll call on final passage was 254 – 175, with 34 yeas and 175 nays among Rs
  5. December 2021 – NO (H.R. 6119, increases the limit) NEW LIMIT $31.4 TRILLION
    1. Roll call on final passage was 221 – 212, with 1 yea and 212 nays among Rs
  6. May/June 2023 – REC NO (H.R. 3746, suspends the limit) SUSPENDED, TBD TO JANUARY 1, 2025
Rep. Jim Banks office

Unlike some other conservatives, Banks seemed not to blame House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

“We have a Democrat President who said he wanted a clean debt limit and he wouldn’t budge on that,” Banks explained. “You have a Senate that’s led by Democrats who said the same thing. Republican leadership negotiated back and forth with them for several weeks. And this is the deal that they came up with.

“It’s not a good enough deal for me to go back to our district in northeast Indiana and defend it.”