House Republicans are decrying the final government spending legislation up for a vote Friday, accusing House Speaker Mike Johnson of failing to secure key GOP wins in a 1,012-page bill that was largely negotiated behind closed doors without lawmaker input.
The $1.2 trillion minibus legislation has been touted as a win by both Republican and Democratic leaders. But some hard-line Republicans are criticizing the legislation as a “failure of leadership” from Johnson, claiming the party was not able to secure as many policy wins as they should have with their House majority.
“It’s total lack of backbone, total lack of leadership, and a total failure by Republican leadership. There’s no other way to describe it,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said on Steve Bannon’s War Room on Thursday. “This bill is an abomination.”
Republican leaders have lauded the bill as securing key provisions in terms of border security, including measures to provide funding for 22,000 border agents, a 25% spending increase for border technology, and a 20% cut in federal funding to nongovernmental organizations that provide transportation and food vouchers to immigrants who are released into the country on asylum claims.
Democrats, on the other hand, were able to walk away with spending legislation that excluded major portions of Republicans’ signature border bill H.R. 2, a major sticking point for GOP lawmakers. Several hard-liners have vowed to vote against the spending legislation altogether, arguing Johnson should have used his position as House speaker to ensure the bill’s inclusion.
“We should get at least something significant in the fight; we should use our leverage,” Roy said.
“And Mike Johnson blew it when he walked away from the continuing resolution that we could have extended through this year to trigger the caps that we had put in place last year,” he added, referring to conservatives’ proposal to extend funding throughout the rest of the fiscal year and implement a 1% pay cut across the board.
Other Republicans echoed similar sentiments, expressing frustration with Johnson for failing to follow through with what they considered key components of the GOP majority.
“Here’s the problem: Our Republican majority started out with all these rules and sweeping changes: single appropriation bills, 72 hours to read bills, open rules, open amendments,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). “And this breaks every single one of those rules under the new ‘conservative speaker.’”
Greene criticized Johnson for how he has navigated the annual appropriations process, arguing the new speaker has broken every rule that led to the removal of his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy didn’t “do all of these things,” she said. “He passed the [continuing resolution]. Johnson passed three. Kevin McCarthy did single appropriation bills. Mike Johnson is now on a second minibus, might as well do an omnibus. Like it’s unbelievable.”
Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) also lamented the use of a raft of spending legislation, referred to as a “minibus” by GOP leadership, to advance spending bills, arguing it was too reminiscent of Democratic leadership.
“When Republicans were nominated and elected in as the majority, we said that we would not do the same things that the Democrats had done by rushing 1,000-, 2,000-, in some cases 6,000-page bills onto the floor that are packed with earmarks that no one has had a chance to go through,” Mills said.
When asked about any chance of retaliation against the speaker, Greene deferred to the eight Republicans who joined Democrats in ousting McCarthy.
“Where’s the eight?” Greene said. “The eight that were so self-righteous and worked up about rules. I think those are the ones you should be asking.”
“Where’s Bob Good, chairman of the Freedom Caucus?” she said, referring to the Virginia Republican who was one of the eight Republicans to remove McCarthy.
No Republican has publicly called for any sort of punishment or threat of removal against Johnson. Good, for his part, argued Johnson has not committed a fatal mistake.
“Speaker Johnson didn’t make any promises to become speaker. He didn’t pledge anything to anybody,” Good said. “The previous speaker did that.”
To be sure, Good said he would vote against the spending bill. The Virginia Republican was quick to come out against the legislation earlier this week, accusing Johnson of bending to the “status quo” of Congress.
The House is expected to reconvene on Friday morning to vote on the minibus, which combines six appropriations bills and covers roughly 70% of the federal government. That funding covers the Pentagon, State Department, Labor Department, Health and Human Services Department, Department of Homeland Security, and foreign operations.
The bill will come to the floor under suspension, meaning it will require a two-thirds majority to pass the House. That will require both Republicans and Democrats to support it.
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While a growing number of Republicans have said they’ll reject the bill, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Thursday that Democrats would assist in “mak[ing] sure that the government is funded.” When asked how many Democrats would support the spending bill, he predicted a “substantial majority.”
After the appropriations legislation advances through the House, it must then be passed by the Senate before heading to Biden’s desk for approval. The government is scheduled to enter a partial shutdown just after midnight on Friday.
