The new speaker may have averted a government shutdown this week, but the major showdown over spending has merely been punted till January.
Now, Speaker Mike Johnson has just two months to forge consensus within his fractious conference over a series of spending bills that don’t have the full GOP support and are already dead on arrival in the Senate and White House – all while contending with conservatives who already ousted one speaker and swing district members who are tired of walking the plank and taking tough votes on bills that aren’t going to become law.
It’s a recipe for yet another spending showdown, more Republican infighting, and a series of complicated decisions for Johnson that members warn could have a much more lasting impact on his ability to govern his conference.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry explained that hardliners are willing to give Johnson more time to get this right, but that time is not unlimited.
“We understand the situation is not of his making, but moving forward we expect to see tangible results to move us down the field in the right direction,” the Pennsylvania Republican said.
Rep. Chip Roy, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, warned Johnson already has two strikes against him for moving a spending bill that didn’t cut funding and using a process to pass the bill that required a large number of Democrats backing it.
“The swamp won and the speaker needs to know that,” the Republican from Texas told CNN. “Look, he’s good man. We’ll sit down, we talked last night on the floor. We’ll go figure out what’s next, but I can tell you Republican voters are tired of promises to fight. We want to actually see change. And so you know, we’ll see what happens … but our approach shouldn’t be assumed when they’re needed and then get rolled on a suspension.”
For months, hardliners…
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