Conservatives again rebel against Johnson deal to prevent shutdown

Conservatives threw the House into chaos again Wednesday, bringing business to a standstill in protest of the spending deal Speaker Mike Johnson struck with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown and leave the funding package in limbo.

A dozen hardline Republicans defected from the party line to thwart a routine procedural measure, blocking consideration of a pair of Republican bills in what amounted to a warning shot from members of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus that they would not support the deal. When the measure failed, members of the group were seen in the House of Representatives in an animated discussion with Mr Johnson and his deputies.

The Republican revolt underscored Johnson’s predicament as he tried to push the spending deal through the closely divided House, where it enraged a sizable bloc of Republicans, while maintaining his grip on his job. The uproar came as it became clear that Congress would most likely have to resort to yet another short-term spending spree — something Mr. Johnson had previously ruled out — to buy time to reach a bipartisan deal to fund the government.

The scene on the House floor on Wednesday was a procedural protest that was once seen as virtually unthinkable in the House but that right-wing lawmakers repeatedly used against former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year to protest his spending deals before ultimately impeaching him.

Now Mr. Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, faces a similar challenge just three months after being confirmed as speaker as he searches for a way to avoid a politically disastrous shutdown. Right-wing lawmakers say they would prefer a closed-door government to funding bills that keep spending near-flat, rather than cutting spending as they have demanded.

“We are making a statement that the deal as announced — which does not cut our spending and will apparently be passed under a rule suspension with overwhelmingly Democratic votes — is unacceptable,” said Representative Bob Good of Virginia, the chairman of the Freedom Caucus to reporters.

The deal announced this weekend by Mr. Johnson and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, essentially replicates President Biden’s deal with Mr. McCarthy last year to suspend the debt ceiling . The far right angrily opposed this measure, which was passed by the House of Representatives with predominantly Democratic votes, and had hoped to roll it back. It also includes $69 billion in spending added in a side deal that conservatives tried to block entirely.

Mr. Johnson has argued that the deal is the best Republicans can hope for, given their slim majority in the House of Representatives and Democrats’ control of the Senate and White House.

He has pointed to measures that Republicans have insisted on to help offset the costs of the package, including accelerating $10 billion in cuts to IRS enforcement and clawing back $6 billion in unused Covid dollars and other relief funds, and called the agreement “a down payment.” about restoring our financial sanity in this country.”

“These were tough negotiations,” Mr. Johnson said at a news conference at the Capitol on Wednesday. “We made it happen. I think this is the best possible deal that conservatives and Republicans can get under these circumstances.”

But conservative hardliners at his conference were outraged by the deal and expressed their frustration at a closed-door meeting on Wednesday morning, claiming that Mr Johnson had capitulated to Democrats by honoring the deal Mr McCarthy negotiated.

“We can’t fight and fold at the same time,” said Rep. Warren Davidson, Republican of Ohio, who was visibly furious as he left the meeting.

In an interview on Fox News, Mr Johnson said he shared his ultra-conservative colleagues’ irritation but was unable to deliver what was asked of them.

“I’m frustrated too, but remember we have a two-vote margin in just one chamber,” he said. “We only have a majority in the House of Representatives. And so we have to work with the numbers we have and get the best out of ourselves.”

The outburst in the House of Representatives came on Wednesday as Mr Johnson was working to figure out how to translate the deal into legislation that could be passed into law within days, ahead of a pair of shutdown deadlines starting on January 1. 19.

Lawmakers on the Senate and House of Representatives appropriations panels are now trying to break down the total agreed-upon spending into 12 separate spending bills that will fund the government.

It is a difficult process every year. This year’s work has been made all the more complicated as Republicans in the House of Representatives have loaded their funding bills with deep cuts and dictate conservative policies that Democrats have refused to entertain.

Publicly and privately, lawmakers from both parties have admitted that it is unlikely that these twelve bills can be negotiated, written and passed before the first shutdown deadline — meaning lawmakers would have to pass a temporary stopgap bill known as a continuing resolution, or CR. , to avoid a partial government shutdown.

“The obvious question is: how long should the CR last?” Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and minority leader, said this on Tuesday.

Mr Johnson previously promised he was “done” with such emergency measures – the kind of bills his conference right flank hates – after passing one in November using Democratic votes to avoid a shutdown. He refused on Wednesday to reveal the question of whether he would submit such a bill to the House of Representatives.

“We’re going to push this forward, we’re going to push it aggressively, and I’m hopeful that we’ll meet the deadlines,” he said.

Carl Hulse reporting contributed.