Chip Roy on Johnson ouster: ‘That’s not the road I prefer’

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) did not rule out supporting a motion to remove Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from his post over a top-line spending deal struck with Democratic leaders and the White House — but said that’s not his preferred path.

Appearing on CNN on Monday evening, Roy expressed his displeasure with the spending deal, which he says uses budget “gimmicks” to increase some spending above the statutory caps set in the Fiscal Responsibility Act debt limit bill last year.

“I wish Speaker Johnson weren’t doing this. So, I’m very disappointed. And hopefully we can try to figure out what we can do to change it in the next few days,” Roy said.

“I think there’s going to be some real conversations this week about what we need to do going forward,” Roy later added.

CNN host Kaitlan Collins then asked whether that could include making a move to oust Johnson from the Speakership — as occurred in October with Johnson’s predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

“That’s not the road I prefer,” Roy responded. “I didn’t prefer to go down that road with Speaker McCarthy. We need to figure out how to get this all done together. But it isn’t good, and there’s a lot of my colleagues who are pretty frustrated about it, so we’ll see what happens this week.”

“You said you don’t prefer it, but you did not say no to that, I should note,” Collins said. 

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Congressional leaders announced a top-line spending deal Sunday that includes a $1.59 trillion base top line, plus around $69 billion in budget tweaks to plus-up nondefense dollars for most of fiscal 2024. Roy and other hard-line conservatives have railed against the deal for the side budget agreements, many of which were originally set by McCarthy with the Fiscal Responsibility Act deal last year.

Johnson recognized in a “Dear Colleague” letter Sunday that the spending levels “will not satisfy everyone, and they do not cut as much spending as many of us would like.” But he touted some wins on accelerating clawbacks of IRS funding, as well as a $6.1 billion cut to “COVID-era slush funds,” calling it “the most favorable budget agreement Republicans have achieved in over a decade.”

Due to the party’s razor-thin majority, GOP opposition to Johnson means he could face problems bringing spending bills that execute the deal to the floor under the regular House process for major legislation. While Democrats would likely make up the difference on final passage, procedural “rule” votes that set the terms for consideration of bills are generally partisan and tests of majority unity — and Republicans have previously moved to sink rule votes for legislation they disliked.

To get around this, Johnson could utilize a “suspension of the rules” process to fast-track the legislation to bypass the procedural vote and pass it with a two-thirds majority.

Roy warned against that move, which Johnson had previously utilized for a short-term funding extension and for the final version of the annual defense authorization bill.

“If we end up doing this by suspension, we’re going to have to start calling him the suspension Speaker,” Roy said. “I think we should do regular order, and we should try to get this done the right way.”

The clock is ticking on the spending deal, with part of government funding running out Jan. 19, and the rest expiring Feb. 2.