House speaker has faced criticism from colleagues about $1.66 trillion top-line agreement with Democrats
WSJ
WASHINGTON—House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) said that he was sticking for now with a budget deal he struck with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) setting top-line fiscal 2024 spending levels at $1.66 trillion, siding with the faction of the GOP conference that favors more robust military spending over a hard-line group pushing for deeper cuts.
The decision comes at a critical juncture, as Johnson has faced criticism from the small but outspoken bloc of GOP conservatives over the deal. Any changes by Johnson would have risked derailing efforts with Democrats to keep the government funded past the coming deadlines of Jan. 19 for some parts of the government and Feb. 2 for the rest.
Following the final vote of the week, Johnson addressed reporters. He said he had spoken with many GOP lawmakers and that “our top-line agreement remains. We are getting our next steps together, and we are working towards a robust appropriations process. So stay tuned for all of that.”
His comments increased the chances that the House speaker would put on the floor another stopgap measure to avoid a partial government shutdown. But it also opens up the possibility of ripple effects within the House Republican conference, where some of the same lawmakers who pushed out House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) over the spending bills he put on the floor are now suggesting that Johnson himself could be on thin ice.
Johnson has spent the past two days meeting with antispending conservatives and pro-military Republican hawks behind closed doors, essentially forcing the group supporting deeper cuts to confront the reality of broad support within the Republican conference for more military spending.
Under an approach favored by the spending hawks, the speaker would put on the floor a measure to continue funding the government in fiscal 2024 at the same levels and on the same priorities.
Doing a full-year continuing resolution, as it is called, would trigger a provision of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, last year’s debt-ceiling deal, for across-the-board cuts in discretionary spending. Military spending for all of fiscal 2024 would total $850 billion, well below the $886 billion specified by the top-line agreement that Johnson and Schumer reached earlier this week. It would also mandate deep cuts in nonmilitary spending, which Democrats oppose.
While some lawmakers had questioned whether Johnson should remain speaker if he is unable to force through more GOP priorities, others played down that notion. Rep. Bob Good (R., Va.), chairman of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, told CNN he continued to “vehemently” oppose the current deal but said it was a “ridiculous supposition” that Johnson’s job be in danger over it.
Some Republicans were determined not to let Johnson’s statement be the final word on the matter, and lawmakers began pitching him on new plans within minutes after Johnson outlined his path forward. In particular, some Republicans have begun shifting their fight for border-security provisions to the government spending bill, concluding that the threat of shutting down the government will give them the greatest leverage in their quest to stanch the flow of migrants at the border.
“We’re going to put a strategy forward that puts us in the driver’s seat rather than accepting whatever the Senate does,” said Rep. Kat Cammack (R., Fla.), who is proposing that the House put together a package containing border-security measures. “We’re going to secure the damn border because that is what the American people expect.”
Democrats and the White House said they assume Johnson will stick to the deal.
“We have an agreement, and the Republicans have to keep their word and stop trying to shut down the government,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said aboard Air Force One.
