Freedom Caucus fumes at Johnson over defense bill: ‘Page ripped from the Boehner playbook’

The Freedom Caucus is fuming over Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) handling of the House’s annual defense bill, calling the legislative compromise a “massive unforced error from leadership” in an internal memo obtained by the Washington Examiner.

Conservatives are unhappy certain provisions the House passed in its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, including a repeal of the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy, were stripped from the final bill, which lawmakers expect to pass before the end of the week. Johnson upset the Freedom Caucus further by attaching a temporary extension of the government’s domestic spying powers to the legislation, something he initially said he would not do.

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The Freedom Caucus had already publicly stated its opposition, warning on Friday it was “prepared to use all available leverage to change the status quo,” yet the memo illustrates in perhaps the starkest terms yet just how far Johnson has fallen in the eyes of its members little more than a month after he was elected speaker.

The memo called the NDAA an “utter disaster” that capitulates “on nearly every major House Republican priority.” But it had choice words for Johnson specifically, comparing his actions to those of John Boehner, the ex-speaker it helped push out in 2015.

The bill, once it passes the Senate later this week, will likely be considered under suspension of the rules in the House, a legislative tactic that allows Johnson to bring it to the floor without a procedural vote.

The move is not unusual for noncontroversial legislation, and the bill will enjoy overwhelming bipartisan support. But conservatives called the tactic an attempt to “end-run conservative objections,” much like Boehner did as speaker.

“This is the sort of process and tactic that conservatives fought to change in January and it’s what derailed previous GOP Speakerships,” the memo said.

The Freedom Caucus’s objections are based, in part, on the price tag of the NDAA. Legislation that greenlights some $1 trillion in defense spending should receive a procedural vote, it says.

But approving the bill on suspension, which requires a two-thirds vote of the House, also denies the Freedom Caucus the ability to block the legislation. Hard-liners tanked multiple procedural votes earlier this year to pressure Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on spending and did so again in November after Johnson agreed to a “clean” government funding extension into the new year.

Several conservative priorities did make it into the final NDAA, the speaker’s office noted, including a hiring freeze for diversity, equity, and inclusion officers in the military as well as language that bars the Pentagon from contracting with organizations that “censor” conservative speech.

“Speaker Johnson and committee leaders fought tooth and nail to refocus the Pentagon on core national defense priorities and away from the Biden administration’s social experiments and climate agenda that in recent years have decimated our military’s recruitment, morale, and readiness,” a Johnson spokesman told the Washington Examiner.

Nonetheless, the Freedom Caucus has rejected the final bill, a compromise of the House and Senate conference committee, as a “betrayal to the voters who gave Republicans a majority.”

The final bill does not bar funding for drag shows at military bases or transgender healthcare, as conservatives had pressed for.

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“The Biden Administration will be popping champagne if it is passed, knowing that Republicans have accepted their ‘woke’ Pentagon policies and uncontrolled surveillance without resistance,” the memo said.

The talking points are the latest sign the honeymoon between Johnson and the Freedom Caucus is over. Members had welcomed the Louisiana Republican after rejecting multiple, less conservative candidates in October’s speaker race. But they have grown increasingly hostile as Johnson, forced to navigate a narrow Republican majority, takes a compromise approach the caucus considers to be a “surrender” to the Democratic-controlled White House and Senate.