Speaker Mike Johnson faces retaliation from the House Freedom Caucus and other Republicans after the chamber passed the continuing resolution (CR), a short-term government funding bill.
The bill passed with MORE Democrats voting for it! Republicans have the majority. Yeah, it’s two seats, but nothing should pass with more Democrat votes than Republican.
These Republicans are tired of spending and an open border. It’s also a promise Johnson broke. He swore he wouldn’t push through these short-term spending bills.
(Another reminder to politicians to never make promises!)
The news should not shock Johnson. The House Freedom Caucus warned leadership about any bill that increases spending and doesn’t address the border.
But it’s not just the House Freedom Caucus. 106 Republicans voted against Johnson, including some allies.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-VA) told Fox News Digital:
“Once again, we passed a significant piece of legislation that keeps in place, with predominately Democrat votes, policies that were ran against and campaigned against,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., told Fox News Digital after the vote.”If you don’t need our votes for the significant pieces of legislation that impact the country, that fund the government, and you’re going to pass those with Democrat votes on suspension, then you shouldn’t presume that you’ve got our votes for the meaningless messaging bills that are dead on arrival in the Senate.”
Good tried to convince Johnson to put the CR through the House Rules Committee. The Republicans would have attached H.R. 2, a border security bill.
The Democrat-controlled Senate would not have even brought it to the floor.
It would have caused a government shutdown.
The caucus and those who voted against the funding bill do not care:
“If they don’t want to shut down the border, then it’s on them to shut down the government…the discussion is that if the speaker isn’t going to take some of those reasonable, conservative asks, then why are we going to continue this charade?” Freedom Caucus member Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., said.”We need to discuss it as a whole, but the idea is…hold up bills until they decide that H.R.2 is the priority.”
These Republicans also hate how leadership bypassed the procedural votes most bills have to pass.
They’re worried the leadership will continue to pass fiscal “bills under suspension of the rules.” Not cool:
“I hope he doesn’t. He doesn’t need to do that. I mean, his base is conservatives and Speaker Johnson is a conservative,” Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said. “But I don’t like the suspension. I don’t like using Democrats to pass bills.”Asked whether he and other hardliners could stage more protest votes down the line in response, Norman said the Freedom Caucus would “discuss that.”Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., another Freedom Caucus member, refused to say whether she would sink rule votes in exchange for the CR’s package.When asked whether Johnson would face consequences, however, she said, “There’s always repercussions to everything we do. But the biggest thing to focus on is that the border is open. It is a disaster. It’s hard to come up with the adequate terms to describe how ruinous it is to our country, and to future generations. The impact is incalculable.”
Johnson lost many Republicans, including those who chair committees and should be counted as his allies:
→ Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (Texas)→ Veterans Affairs Chair Mike Bost (Ill.)→ Rep. Mike Gallagher (Wis.), the chair of the China Select Committee→ Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (Tenn.)→ Ethics Chair Mike Guest (Miss.)→ Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (Ohio)→ Administration Chair Brian Steil (Wis.)→ Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (Ark.)→ Small Business Chair Roger Williams (Texas)
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