House Freedom Caucus on government funding bill: ‘This is what surrender looks like’

The House Freedom Caucus slammed the latest short-term government funding bill, suggesting it was a “capitulation” to the left as lawmakers try to avoid a government shutdown by Friday's looming deadline.

“The @HouseGOP plans to pass a short-term spending bill that continues Pelosi's level with the Biden policy to buy time to pass a long-term Pelosi-level spending bill with the Biden policy. This is what capitulation looks like,” House Freedom Caucus said. The group wrote in writing. Post to Xformerly Twitter.

Congressional leaders struck the deal last week, just days before Friday night's shutdown deadline. The two-phase plan announced Sunday night would postpone the funding threat to early March, giving more time for spending talks past the Jan. 19 funding deadline. As a result, funding for some areas of government will be extended until March 1st and for remaining government agencies until March 8th.

If approved by the House and Senate, it would be the third stopgap funding since fiscal year 2023 funding, known as a continuing resolution (CR), expired last September. The current two-phase spending plan has deadlines of January 19 and February 2. The current CR was supported by House Republicans at the time, who saw it as a way to avoid a huge single omnibus spending bill in Congress. The end of last year.

A short-term CR would give Congress more time to quickly approve 12 full-time spending bills, but it has typically opposed such bills and advocated instead long-term spending deals. That would infuriate hardline House Republicans.

House conservatives have long advocated spending cuts, but some Republicans say any funding package must be accompanied by changes to border policy. Such opposition from the right means Johnson will likely have to muster Democratic votes to pass CR in the House of Commons, further inflaming the far-right.

House conservatives tried to get Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to pull out of the deal last week, but when Johnson brought up the idea of ​​a long-term deal to a group of moderate Republicans, nearly all members balked. expressed no to the agreement. One participant spoke to The Hill last week about the proposal.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York indicated early Sunday that he plans to send the funding bill to the Senate floor on Tuesday, claiming he is “trying to bully them into forcing a shutdown.” He blamed far-right members. ”