The longest government shutdown in history finally ended on Wednesday night after nearly every member of the House of Representatives raced to Washington to cast their vote.
The threat of air travel delays — fueled in no small part by the fiscal standoff — as well as bad weather in parts of the country forced some lawmakers to find more unconventional routes to ensure they arrived on time.
First-term Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., for example, found himself carpooling more than five hours alongside House Rules Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C. — a powerful GOP lawmaker more than 50 years his senior.
‘It dawned on me that, for a while there, I was one of the most powerful people in America, because I had the Rules chair, who — we couldn’t start the process of passing this bill until she got here,’ McDowell told Fox News Digital. ‘We had a one-seat majority, and there was two of us. So, you know, there was a lot of pressure to make sure she got here on time.’
Foxx’s committee was responsible for preparing federal funding legislation for a House-wide vote, which it did from just before 7 p.m. Tuesday until around 2 a.m. Wednesday.
‘She just kind of asked, ‘Hey, would you be willing to carpool?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, not a problem at all.’ I’ve got a truck, so I’ve got plenty of room. We could have taken the whole delegation up, just put all the guys in the back,’ McDowell joked.
He also knew that driving Foxx up earlier than most lawmakers had to be there came with sacrifices.
‘Neither of us got to participate in any Veterans Day events in our district, which was a real bummer. But we had an important job to do, and that was make sure our government services and our current troops are getting paid,’ he said.
McDowell said he spent the roughly five-and-a-half-hour drive asking Foxx questions about her work and her own life, which she happily answered.
And the senior House Republican told Fox News Digital that she appreciated the experience herself.
‘I have never had a chance to really sit down with him for a long period of time, so I really welcome the opportunity to get to know him better,’ Foxx said. ‘He told me a lot about experiences he’s had. We talked about things from my side, mostly policy issues, but I did tell him a little bit more about my background.’
Foxx said it was a combination of bad weather in the North Carolina mountains and concerns about flight delays that moved her to contact colleagues about driving up — until she found her schedule most aligned with McDowell’s, and she drove herself to meet him before the long ride.
‘I have to say he’s an excellent driver,’ Foxx said. ‘We stopped in Henderson, North Carolina, and got Chick-fil-A sandwiches — of course, what else would we get? We left there at 11 [a.m.] and we got here at about 4:40 [p.m.].’
Asked if she would do it all again, Foxx said, ‘In a heartbeat.’
Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, also opted to drive instead of fly — a trip that spanned more than 1,000 miles across 15 hours overnight.
Feenstra said he and two staffers ‘took turns driving’ through the night, stopping only for gas and arriving in Washington some time on Wednesday morning before the vote.
‘I had a lot of Veterans Day events. I wanted to make sure that I was in my district for that. And then, once that was completed at 5 last night, we headed this way,’ he said. ‘When that’s your only option, you do it. This job — you’ve got to do whatever you have to.’
And Midwestern Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., also took to the roads, but in a different vehicle.
‘Democrats shut the government down over 40 days ago now. And I could not count on air travel,’ he told Fox News Digital. ‘So I talked to my wife for about five seconds and said, ‘I’m getting on the motorcycle and leaving.’ So I did, and I got here on time.’
Van Orden, who first told The Hill of his plans, said he rode through sub-zero temperatures and had to navigate black ice on the roads. At one point, he stopped at a hotel ‘for four or five hours’ when the environment appeared ‘sketchy,’ he said.
‘Someone asked me, ‘Why don’t you just drive a car?’ Here’s why. We only have one car. And I wasn’t going to inconvenience my wife, because she is one of my constituents, and she happens to be my favorite constituent,’ he said.
‘People around here don’t seem to understand that the mission is more important than their personal security or comfort. And if more people in this building took their job more seriously and realized it’s about the American people than not, then we will be a better country.’