House Republicans' inability to come up with a strategy to address a looming government funding deadline has sparked a finger-pointing game among Republicans after opposition from multiple factions thwarted a strategy by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month.
Johnson, struggling with a slim majority in the House, opted to test a spending plan proposed by hardline members of the House Freedom Caucus. As his first attack on the Democratic-controlled Senate, he would have attached a conservative proposal to require proof of citizenship to vote to a six-month budget extension. Former President Donald Trump had also called for making government funding contingent on a voting bill.
However, the Speaker was forced to cancel a vote on the bill scheduled for this week.
Now, frustrated by a new legislative drama marked by intra-party infighting, Republicans are shifting the blame to others.
“It's disappointing that the attached bill, which every member supports, does not receive a majority of House votes and cannot support a budget that is lower than the Democrats' budget and is required by law,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.).
“I have no problems. [with] “I don't know what the Speaker is trying to do, but the problem is that MPs are not supporting what he is trying to do,” he added.
Opposition to the bill came from far and wide in the conference. Fiscal hawks, mostly outside the Freedom Caucus, opposed extending the budget. Defense hawks, led by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), were concerned about the bill's impact on the Pentagon. And moderates worried about the threat of a shutdown with the election looming.
One House Republican, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, blasted hard-liners for sabotaging the speaker's negotiating tactics.
“The hardliners have failed again. They don't know how to negotiate, so they're not getting anything,” the Republican said. “If they can't pass the bill, then they're not going to get what they actually want.”
But senior Republican aides pushed back against those targeting hardliners.
“Moderates, like Democrats, are always keen to blame conservatives, but this time it was the defensive hawks who decided to stand tall 30 days before the election,” the aide said.
And while Cole said he understands the defensive hardliners' position, he also voiced his opposition to them from that position.
“I'm not opposed to Mike Rogers, who is one of my closest friends in Congress… I don't want a 6-month CR. [continuing resolution]”But I still think it's better to pass something and remove the threat of a government shutdown than nothing,” Cole said. “I've never thought this was a perfect bill. It's not a significant bill. But it's all a game of give and take, and we need to do that. Right now the speaker is negotiating for all of us.”
Republicans backing the funding measure hope that passing their conservative proposal will give the conference more leverage in upcoming negotiations with Senate Democrats.
The effort has upended typical Republican politics, transforming some normally hostile hardliners into key supporters of the effort.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), the lead sponsor of the voter certification act (known as the SAVE Act) and pairing it with a six-month funding extension, has clashed with leadership in the past and lamented opposition from some of his “self-described conservative friends.”
“They haven't given the speaker the authority to do what we generally want. I find that ironic, but that's the reality,” Roy said.
“I don't think we should fund the government without forcing reforms, right? That's the point here,” Roy later added. “Can we get this done in the coming year and avoid a lame-duck omnibus bill? Can we call into question important issues like the integrity of the vote and the vote of the American people? Some of my colleagues want to run around hustling and hustling about 12 budget bills when only five have passed because of internal debate in Congress.”
But other Conservatives oppose Johnson's fiscal plan because of the lack of spending cuts and the use of continuing resolutions, and are concerned about a ballooning budget deficit.
“We are heading for a complete economic collapse that is not reversible,” Rep. Corey Mills (R-Fla.) told reporters, explaining his opposition.
A second House Republican expressed frustration with the conflicting messages coming from the right.
“What do they want? The normal order or do they want a position with CR?” the House Republican said.
Two of the Republicans who have publicly opposed Johnson's spending plan, Reps. Matt Rosendale (Mont.) and Andy Biggs (Ariz.), are members of the Freedom Caucus, and in August the caucus explicitly called for a continuing resolution to align Johnson's plan, the SAVE Act, with the plan through early 2025.
Rosendale said his position “should dispel the myth that if you're in the Freedom Caucus you have to vote the way the Freedom Caucus does,” adding that the group's members “have a lot to agree on and a lot to disagree on.”
Some Republicans have suggested those on the right are acting as bad faith negotiators.
“I'm not trying to criticize anybody, but when you have people who ask for something and then don't vote when it gets delivered, it's clear that they're not acting in good faith and are only interested in getting press and clicks,” said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), a senior budget official.
While the current developments have irritated House Republicans, they are not new to the House caucus.
House Republicans have tried to pass regular spending bills at budget levels they know the Democratic-controlled Senate would never accept, only to have their bills withdrawn or die on the floor due to opposition from House Republicans. A year ago, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tried a strikingly similar strategy by attaching a Republican border bill to a continuing resolution, but it died on the House floor, and he enlisted the help of Democrats to pass a “clean” stopgap bill.
While frustration has grown among some Republicans over opposition to Johnson's spending strategy, one House Republican said he's not fazed because such actions are the status quo in this Congress.
“This situation has happened many times in the 118th District, so I wouldn't say there's any growing frustration. Unfortunately, I think lawmakers are just starting to accept this as a normal situation,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, D-Lausanne. “But I think there can be some frustration. I think we can be a better team. I think we need to be a better team. The stakes are high enough that we should come together and support the speaker's actions.”
