House conservatives seethe at Speaker Mike Johnson over $1.66T spending deal
Republican hardliners in Congress are stewing over a deal Speaker Mike Johnson hammered out with Democrats to stave off a partial government shutdown from beginning later this month.
Congressional leaders rolled out the approximately $1.66 trillion top-line spending deal Sunday, charting out a path to keeping DC fully functional — only for fiscal hawks to complain Johnson (R-La.) had ceded too much ground to Democrats.
The howling from Johnson’s right flank is reminiscent of the spending flap that doomed his predecessor as speaker, former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) three months ago.
Revolt from the right
Johnson had presented the deal as a $1.59 trillion discretionary budget pact, with $888 billion for defense and $704 billion for nondefense spending.
However, the deal is paired with $69 billion in further spending, bolstering the topline number for fiscal year 2024, which ends Sept. 30.
“It’s even worse than we thought. Don’t believe the spin,” the conservative House Freedom Caucus fumed on X.
“Once you break through typical Washington math, the true total programmatic spending level is $1.658 trillion — not $1.59 trillion. This is total failure.”
McCarthy had presided over a $1.59 trillion spending agreement as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling reached in May of last year.
Even that wasn’t enough for some Republicans, who pushed for spending to be cut closer to the $1.47 trillion mark.
Last November, the Freedom Caucus’s leadership appeared to signal a softening stance in the face of Democratic intransigence.
A month later, the group sounded the alarms about possible side deals forged by GOP and Democratic leadership.
With Sunday’s announcement, those grievances have become public again.
“I am a NO to the Johnson Schumer budget deal,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) posted on X Sunday night.
“This $1.6 Trillion dollar budget agreement does nothing to secure the border, stop the invasion, or stop the weaponized government targeting Biden’s political enemies and innocent Americans. So much for the power of the purse.”
Greene had been a key ally of McCarthy despite breaking from him on some issues.
“A $1[.]659 [trillion] topline in spending is terrible & gives away the leverage accomplished in the (already not great) caps deal. We’ll wait to see if we get meaningful policy riders,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) posted on X.
“1) the NDAA was not a good preview, & 2) as usual, we keep spending more money we don’t have.”
Johnson argued in a “Dear Colleague” letter Sunday that the spending blueprint would tee up a “fight for the important policy riders.”
“If this is the best Republicans can do, there’s no hope of ever balancing our budget or securing the border,” lamented Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC).
“Republicans agreeing to spending levels $69 billion higher than last summer’s debt ceiling ‘deal’, with no significant policy wins is nothing but another loss for America. At some point, having the House majority has to matter. Stop funding this spending with an open border!” added newly minted Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.).
Some Republicans defend the plan
Despite the anger of some conservatives, other Republicans backed Johnson.
“I’m encouraged that the Speaker and Democratic Leaders have identified a path toward completing FY 2024 appropriations,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Sunday.
“America faces serious national security challenges, and Congress must act quickly to deliver the full-year resources this moment requires.”
A handful of rank-and-file Republicans needled their peers over the high expectations set for the appropriations process.
“Are we learning that negotiating with the Democrats in the White House and Senate with a slim majority is hard and you can’t get everything you want, no matter who is in the Speaker’s office?” asked Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) on X.
“If you don’t let your leaders lead, then you end up in chaos. And so it just gets to be the point now where, how much can you just say no and remain … credible,” Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC) told Fox News.
Johnson himself highlighted a handful of Republican gains from the pact, namely the “more than $16 billion in additional spending cuts to offset the discretionary spending levels.”
Politico reported that the framework figure was $30 billion less than what Senate Democrats sought.
A delicate dance for Johnson
Now that the top-line spending levels appear to be ironed out between the two chambers, Congress must now embark on a mad dash to shove through 12 appropriations bills before the shutdown deadlines of Jan. 19 and Feb. 2
If Congress still has a stopgap continuing resolution in place instead of regular appropriations funding by the end of April, then that could trigger automatic cuts, according to Democrat appropriators.
Johnson has previously ruled out another stopgap spending patch.
Also complicating the matter are calls by some conservatives to couple GOP demands for border security with legislation to avert a shutdown.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), one of the top negotiators on a border deal in the Senate, said Sunday that lawmakers will drop text on a supplemental spending bill “hopefully this week.”
Republicans have also demanded border security boosts in exchange for supplemental aid to war-torn Ukraine, which is expected to run dry within the coming weeks.
One silver lining for Johnson in the spending row is that a bevy of Democrats have signaled support for the package.
Back in May, 71 Republicans voted “nay” on the debt ceiling compromise, but 165 Democrats helped pass it.
Currently, the House has 220 Republicans and 213 Democrats, with the GOP number expected to drop to 219 when Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) resigns later this month to take up the presidency of Youngstown State University.
Also, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) is expected to be absent for much of January to receive treatment for blood cancer, further dwindling the GOP number.
Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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