Speaker Johnson rejects hard-line tactics in move to avoid shutdown

Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) decision to support a short-term stopgap spending bill marks the latest instance of the new Speaker rejecting tactics favored by hard-line conservatives as he navigates a bare-bones GOP majority.

The bipartisan proposal significantly lowers the chances of a partial government shutdown after Friday’s deadline, and it mirrors the two-step framework conservatives championed as part of the previous continuing resolution (CR) in order to avoid a massive end-of-year, whole-of-government omnibus bill.

But it is not buying the new Speaker any goodwill among hard-liners, who are speaking out against his decision to cut another “clean” continuing resolution deal with Democrats.

“This is what surrender looks like,” the House Freedom Caucus wrote Sunday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, accusing leadership of trying to clear spending bills “at Pelosi levels with Biden policies.”

After deliberations between Johnson and members of his politically diverse conference, congressional leaders landed on a two-step CR that extends funding to March 1 and March 8, buying lawmakers more time to complete the formal appropriations process.

Hard-line conservatives last week urged Johnson to embrace a long-term continuing resolution — potentially through the end of fiscal 2024 in September — which would have triggered a 1 percent across-the-board cut mechanism that was included in the debt limit deal then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struck with President Biden last year. 

They argued that the threat of across-the-board cuts would give the conference leverage to secure conservative policy priorities and renegotiate the bipartisan top-line spending deal leaders unveiled earlier in the month.

The roughly $1.66 trillion top-line agreement Johnson struck with Democratic leaders also drew the ire of conservatives who urged him to renege on the agreement.

But Johnson — who in November said he was done with short-term continuing resolutions — also had to contend with appropriators and moderates in his party warning against backtracking on the deal. They argued that a shorter continuing resolution would provide a better incentive to finally complete the regular fiscal 2024 appropriations process.

After a flurry of closed-door meetings last week, Johnson asked a group of moderate GOP lawmakers if they could support a full-year continuing resolution, and nearly all said no, according to one attendee.

In the end, Johnson sided with moderates and appropriators: He stuck by the agreement he made with Democrats and ultimately backed a “clean” continuing resolution, dealing a two-part blow to the right flank of his conference.

Conservatives are already expressing their outrage.

“Enough with the continuing resolutions. We’ve had plenty of time to address funding levels. Congress keeps punting this while our southern border remains a mess and our national debt continues to surge. We are doing the American people a disservice,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a former chairman of the Freedom Caucus, wrote on X.

“This is unacceptable to keep kicking this can down the road,” Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) said during an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday. “I won’t be a part of it.”

Johnson, for his part, has touted some of the budgetary tweaks he secured in the top-line spending agreement, such as accelerating cuts to a planned IRS funding boost and additional clawbacks of pandemic aid.

And while he did admit that the top-line deal was “not all we want,” he argued it was the “best” they could do in a divided Washington.

“It’s not the best deal that we could get if we were in charge of both chambers and the White House. But it’s the best deal that we could broker under the circumstances,” Johnson told reporters in the Capitol last week.

The Speaker faces pressure beyond the hard-liners. Johnson is dealing with a historically slim House majority made even more difficult this week by absences of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), due to cancer treatment, and of Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), who was hospitalized following a car accident. Assuming full attendance otherwise, Republicans can afford to lose just two votes on any party-line measure. 

And any measure will have to get through the Democratic-controlled Senate and signed by President Biden.

To get around the conservative opposition, Johnson will likely have to bring the continuing resolution up in the House under suspension of the rules — a fast-track process that bypasses the need to first approve a procedural rule vote that dictates the terms of debate.

While rule votes have historically been routine, mundane referendums — where the majority party votes in support and the minority party votes in opposition — hard-liners in this Congress have voted against rules on a number of occasions as a way to highlight their frustration with leadership.

Forcing Johnson to pass the legislation under suspension of the rules — which requires two-thirds support for passage — means the Speaker will have to rely heavily on Democrats to clear the continuing resolution. If all 213 Democrats vote in support, Johnson will need at least 77 Republicans on board to get the measure over the finish line.

Assuming wide bipartisan support for the stopgap, conservatives lack leverage to avoid getting steamrolled on the continuing resolution — which they admit.

“When all the Democrats are going to vote for something, and you have a bunch of Republicans who never want to confront anything, there’s little that the rest of us, including the Speaker, can do about that,” Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a former Freedom Caucus chair, said on Fox Business on Tuesday.

It is an open question whether Johnson will face any wider consequences from the right flank, which also expressed frustrations with other moves he made, such as temporarily extending foreign spy authorities in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Some hard-liners, including Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), have floated another potential “motion to vacate” — the process that forced a recall vote on McCarthy and led to his ouster from the top House job last year.

But as hard-liners are appearing to accept defeat on the short-term stopgap, they are turning attention to how to secure any more wins on border and migration policy — a topic that may be another test for Johnson.

“We’re asking for border security to be a feature of the discussion over government funding, not just something that is resolved within some supplemental Christmas future,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said last week, referring to the ongoing bipartisan negotiations in the Senate on border security to unlock aid for Ukraine. 

After months of talks, the negotiators have not unveiled a deal, but Johnson has signaled his opposition to the plan under discussion.