House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he is engaging in “thoughtful conversations” about government funding as House conservatives push the Republican leader to back out of the top-line spending deal he made with Senate Democrats over the weekend.
A number of conservative lawmakers emerged from a closed-door meeting with Johnson on Thursday saying the speaker is considering backing out of the $1.66 trillion agreement he brokered with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in exchange for a more conservative budget proposal. Although the GOP lawmakers seemed confident the deal would be bucked, Johnson emphasized no firm commitments were made.
“We’re having thoughtful conversations about funding options and priorities,” Johnson said on Thursday. “While those conversations are going on, I made no commitments.”
News of a possible agreement comes just eight days before the government is set to enter a partial shutdown and funding will lapse for a slate of federal agencies. Johnson and Schumer announced the proposal on Sunday afternoon, prompting immediate backlash from conservative lawmakers who argued the framework did not go far enough to cut government spending.
Several Republicans vowed to shoot down the measure, threatening to withhold support on any spending legislation until changes were made. Johnson met with conservatives on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the agreement in an effort to ease concerns from his rank and file.
“He agreed with other conservatives, everything that we said,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said of the meetings. “There’s going to be a new deal drawn up, and that’s what we’re in the process of doing.”
Other conservatives who emerged from the meeting said Johnson agreed to rewrite the spending agreement, and in exchange, the group of GOP holdouts said they would agree to pass a temporary stopgap measure to avoid a government shutdown next week.
“There will be a CR,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) said. “We’ve got to have border security. And I’m comfortable we will have that.”
The latest development comes after days of outrage from House conservatives who have opposed Johnson’s deal with Senate Democrats publicly. The outrage even led to a moment of revolt from hard-line Republicans on Wednesday after 13 lawmakers tanked a procedural rule on the floor, effectively leaving the House at a standstill.
Conservatives hoped to use the failed vote to send a message to Johnson “to not follow through with the deal as it’s been announced,” Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) said.
“We’re making a statement that what the deal as has been announced that doesn’t secure the border, and that doesn’t cut our spending — and it’s going to be passed, apparently, under suspension of the rules by predominantly Democrat votes — is unacceptable,” the Freedom Caucus chairman said.
However, Johnson vowed on Wednesday that his deal with Schumer would survive, arguing it was the best deal House Republicans could secure with such a slim majority.
It is unclear whether Johnson will meet with Schumer before the Senate adjourns for the weekend to discuss a new top-line spending agreement, but the Senate majority leader indicated the agreement would remain intact.
“We have a top-line agreement, everybody knows to get anything done, it has to be bipartisan,” Schumer said. “So, we’re going to continue to work to pass the CR and avoid a shutdown.”
Schumer filed cloture on a shell bill on Thursday that is expected to be used as a vehicle to advance a continuing resolution. A vote on that could come as soon as Tuesday.
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Lawmakers have until Jan. 19 to pass the first batch of appropriations bills, after which a slew of federal agencies will lapse in funding causing a partial government shutdown. The second deadline is set for Feb. 2.
Several Republicans have floated the idea of advancing a stopgap measure to extend government funding into early March and buy negotiators more time, although Johnson has not yet indicated whether he would bring such a measure to the floor.