Conservatives slam speaker over spending deal with Democrats
As Speaker Mike Johnson gathered House Republicans behind closed doors Wednesday to sell the spending deal he reached with Democrats, one thing quickly became clear: many GOP lawmakers weren't buying it.
Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio left early, saying he'd had enough.
“I'm not going to sit there and listen to that drivel, because he has no plans to do anything but surrender,” Davidson said.
In the afternoon, 13 Republicans refused to support a routine procedural vote setting the stage for considering three GOP-led bills. A similar revolt occurred in June when, for the first time in some 20 years, such a routine vote was defeated, essentially grinding the House to a halt.
“We needed to send a message that what's going on with this announced agreement is unacceptable,” said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., the chairman of House Freedom Caucus, made up many of the House's most conservative lawmakers.
House Republicans are off to a raucous start in their first week back in Washington after an extended holiday break. The open criticism of the speaker and the parliamentary standoff reflects deep divisions within the party that have continued despite new leadership, raising questions about his ability to unite the conference.
Most Republicans are still voicing support for Johnson, saying he is doing the best he can with such a slim majority and Democrats in control of the Senate and White House. But it took only eight Republicans to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker last year — along with 208 Democrats. A similar revolt from just a handful of Republicans would leave Johnson vulnerable as well.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News he's not going to say what would trigger a motion by him to seek Johnson's removal, but “we've got to do better than this.” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said “a lot of people are talking about” a motion to vacate Johnson from the speakership. But the Tennessee Republican who helped oust McCarthy said he's personally not there “yet.”
“There is a lot of division with the conference. We've got a brand new leader, but it's kind of the same ol' song and dance,” Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., told reporters upon exiting Wednesday's closed-door meeting of House Republicans.
Facing reporters afterward, Johnson said he was not concerned about losing his job.
“Look, leadership is tough. You take a lot of criticism, but remember, I am a hardline conservative. That's what they used to call me,” Johnson said. “I come from that camp.”
He called the spending deal a “down payment on restoring us to fiscal sanity in this country.” He also said that if Republicans “demonstrate we govern well” it would help them grow their majority in the next Congress, which could help them get more of the spending cuts they want down the road.
“We're going to turn this thing completely around, and I can't wait to do it,” Johnson said.
Many Republicans doubt that colleagues would want to put the House through more of the chaos that erupted when McCarthy was ousted. It took nearly three tense weeks to land on Johnson as a replacement for McCarthy. Johnson has been on the job for less than three months, having just recently filled out his staff.
“The reality is nobody wants to go through another speaker's campaign,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. “You can take somebody down once and say you're killing a tyrant. When you do it twice, you become an assassin. So I think the speaker is much more secure than people realize.”
Government funding expires Jan. 19 for about 20% of the federal government, while the rest of the government is funded only through Feb. 2. The agreement that McCarthy negotiated with the White House called for capping defense spending at $886 billion and nondefense spending at about $704 billion for the current fiscal year, which began in October.