Speaker Johnson may avoid McCarthy’s fate despite needing Democratic support to pass CR

Several hard-line conservatives in the House Republican Conference are unhappy with Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) plan to fund the government as it will require Democratic support to get across the finish line. But the newly elected leader is likely to avoid the same backlash his predecessor faced — at least for the time being.

The House is set to vote on Johnson’s temporary spending plan on Tuesday, which will be presented under a suspension of rules that will require a two-thirds majority vote to pass the House. That means Johnson must rely on Democrats to vote in favor of the bill, repeating the exact scenario that played out when the House passed its CR in September and ultimately leading to Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) losing the speaker’s gavel.

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However, those same Republicans who punished McCarthy for extending his arm across the aisle say the situation is different now — indicating they won’t call for a similar motion to vacate.

“The prior administration, they had since January,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), one of eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy. “[Johnson] is trying to do something, he knows he’s in a bind. CRs were created for emergency situations, and that’s what this is.”

Several Republicans have come out in opposition to Johnson’s proposed CR, which would maintain current spending levels with no cuts and delay the appropriations deadline until early next year. The conservative Freedom Caucus released a position against the spending package on Tuesday just hours ahead of the vote, costing Johnson a couple of dozen GOP votes.

Still, many GOP lawmakers said they would support Johnson’s proposal, arguing it’s the only plan that can make its way through Congress ahead of the government shutdown deadline on Friday.

“Mike is having to reach out to the Democrats because you can’t get the Republicans to agree on anything,” said Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), who said he would support the spending package. “No matter what decision he makes, he can’t get 217 of the Republican conference. He’s got to reach out to Democrats. We’ve done it to ourselves quite honestly. We’ve done it. We can thank the Republican Party for where we’re at today.”

It’s not yet clear how many Democrats will vote in favor of the CR proposal, with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) telling reporters that party leaders are “still evaluating” the text before recommending action. Jeffries said he’s had several conversations with Johnson over the last few days and expects at least “one or two more” before the vote is held.

“We’ve made clear that there should be no poisonous, political, partisan policy provisions. Those are the important factors in our evaluation process,” Jeffries said.

However, the Democratic leader said party members still have concerns over Johnson’s bifurcated deadlines, noting they are still “evaluating the potential adverse impact of that on the American people.”

But Jeffries left the door open on possible support.

“It is extremely important to keep the government open,” he said. “In fact, that’s been a Democratic principle from the very beginning of this Congress. The government is open right now because Democrats provided the votes to avoid a government shutdown.”

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Other Democrats indicated they would support the package, arguing their only priority is to avert a government shutdown.

“The numbers seem to be pretty good to me. I don’t understand why they’re going down this road, but at the end of the day — I mean we didn’t want to shut the government down,” said Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-MA). “My expectation is that this will pass.”