Lawmakers in both parties are predicting a GOP battle royal over federal spending at the start of the election year as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) struggles to balance the demands from House conservatives demanding fiscal reforms with keeping the government operating.
The new Speaker was able to prevent a shutdown earlier this month without massive repercussions to his leadership.
After his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), was unseated in part for bringing a funding measure to the floor that relied on Democratic votes, House conservatives gave Johnson “a mulligan” in November for basically doing the same thing.
Ninety-three House Republicans voted against the funding measure, but there was no effort to end Johnson’s speakership.
But Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and other conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus are signaling they won’t give Johnson another free pass — even though he has limited power to get his way, given the Democratic control of the White House and Senate.
Roy said earlier this month that Johnson’s concessions to Democrats to pass a funding stopgap lasting until January and February are “strike one, strike two,” putting the Speaker at risk of getting punched out of his job if he cuts another deal that fails to make significant cuts to federal spending.
A GOP senator who requested anonymity to discuss the bitter fighting between mainstream and conservative Republicans over spending levels for 2024 said there’s no clear path forward.
“I want to know what we’re going to do the first day we come back from the Thanksgiving break. Will there be another minibus?” the lawmaker said, referring to a package of three or four spending bills.
Johnson was forced to cancel floor votes earlier this month on three different spending bills because of divisions within his conference.
The stakes for upcoming fight, Democrats and Republicans alike warn, will only get bigger as the 2024 election approaches.
President Biden looks vulnerable, as does the Democratic majority in the Senate. Yet Johnson’s majority in the House is also not safe, meaning leaders across the board will have to act carefully.
Senate Democrats say they are bracing for more brinkmanship.
