Tennessee Republican U.S. Rep. Diane Black's office said she wasn't in Washington to vote on the recent $400 dollar billion budget deal because her "no" vote wouldn't have prevented passage and her time was better spent meeting with business leaders in Tennessee.
Black’s spokeswoman Heather Douglass said Friday, that republicans went in a different direction than the budget she helped craft.
Douglass said republicans cut a deal with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and democrats to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on inefficient and wasteful government programs.
Black stepped down as Budget Committee chairwoman last month and is one of four major republicans running for governor of Tennessee. Two democrats are also running.
