The House Freedom Caucus will not support the spending agreement between House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Steve Schumer to avoid a government shutdown.
The deal would establish an overall spending level of $1.59 trillion in fiscal year 2024, reflecting the bipartisan budget deal struck last year by President Joe Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Johnson, R-La., told colleagues in a letter. The breakdown is $886 billion for the military and $704 billion for nondefense spending, Johnson said.Johnson added that there will be “key modifications” to the agreement in order to reduce nonmilitary spending with a $16 billion “offset.” That includes $6.1 billion in unused Covid funds and $10 billion in IRS money under the Inflation Reduction Act, Johnson said.“While these final spending levels will not satisfy everyone, and they do not cut as much spending as many of us would like, this deal does provide us a path to: 1) move the process forward; 2) reprioritize funding within the topline towards conservative objectives, instead of last year’s Schumer-Pelosi omnibus; and 3) fight for the important policy riders included in our House FY24 bills,” Johnson wrote in his letter to colleagues.
The House Freedom Caucus is not wrong:
The intrigue: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a joint statement that the non-discretionary spending figure is actually $772.7 billion, which would bring the total spending topline to $1.66 trillion.
- Schumer’s office pointed to an additional $69 billion as part of a “side agreement” between former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden in the debt ceiling deal to account for the discrepancy.
The Republicans have a two-seat majority in the House since Majority Leader Steve Scalise won’t return until next month due to cancer treatment.
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Tim Burchett (R-TN) said they won’t vote for the agreement.
Democrats will have to vote yes on the agreement in order for it to pass.
Rep. Michael Cloud has a great point. I’m not a Republican, and I do not think they’re as fiscally conservative as they claim, but still. STOP SPENDING.
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