House Freedom Caucus Comes Out Against Speaker Johnson's Stopgap Spending Plan Just Before Vote
Is the honeymoon period already over for Speaker of the House Mike Johnson?
It might be too early to say that, but it’s not too early to say that he’s already facing some critical scrutiny from the same conservative group that helped oust the last speaker.
In a statement Tuesday morning, the House Freedom Caucus railed against a resolution introduced by Johnson aiming to avert a government shutdown — while stopping just short of criticizing Johnson himself.
“The House Freedom Caucus opposes the proposed ‘clean’ Continuing Resolution as it contains no spending reductions, no border security, and not a single meaningful win for the American People,” the caucus said.
Those were similar to some of the issues (spending too much spending, working with bad-faith Democrats and forgoing “America First” lawmaking) that the Freedom Caucus had with former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was removed from that post last month.
“Republicans must stop negotiating against ourselves over fears of what the Senate may do with the promise ‘roll over today and we’ll fight tomorrow,’” the lawmakers said.
The Freedom Caucus did end the statement with an endorsement — though perhaps not a ringing one — of Johnson.
“While we remain committed to working with Speaker Johnson, we need bold change,” it said.
HFC Official Position on CR: No More “Rolling Over Today To Fight Tomorrow” pic.twitter.com/8rE2VbRCbe
— House Freedom Caucus (@freedomcaucus) November 14, 2023
On Monday, Johnson announced a two-step continuing resolution plan in place to avoid a government shutdown.
First, four appropriations bills would be extended until Jan. 19, and then the remaining eight bills would be extended until Feb. 2.
“This new model will finally change the long-established, unlawful dynamics of government funding,” the speaker’s office said in a news release. “The Two-Step CR extending beyond the end of the calendar year will ensure that the House is no longer forced to vote on the eve of the holidays on trillions of dollars in federal spending encompassed within bloated, thousand-page spending bills that few people have read.”
One sore spot with Johnson’s plan, according to Texas Rep. Chip Roy, is that it doesn’t include anything to address the crisis at the nation’s southern border.
“It’s absurd that we’re continuing to fund [the Department of Homeland Security despite its ongoing issues],” Roy said, according to The Hill. “Mike ought to know better, and Republicans who are thinking about supporting this ought to know better.”
Rep. Scott Perry, the Freedom Caucus chairman, made it crystal clear that his caucus would not budge on this matter.
“I will not support a status quo that fails to acknowledge fiscal irresponsibility, and changes absolutely nothing while emboldening a do-nothing Senate and a fiscally illiterate President,” the Pennsylvania Republican said in a post on X.
I will not support a status quo that fails to acknowledge fiscal irresponsibility, and changes absolutely nothing while emboldening a do-nothing Senate and a fiscally illiterate President.
— RepScottPerry (@RepScottPerry) November 13, 2023
A vote on the plan was expected Tuesday.
Without a deal in place, the government is on track to shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET Saturday.
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