Lawmakers in both parties are predicting a GOP battle royal over federal spending at the start of the election year as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) struggles to balance the demands from House conservatives demanding fiscal reforms with keeping the government operating.
The new Speaker was able to prevent a shutdown earlier this month without massive repercussions to his leadership.
After his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), was unseated in part for bringing a funding measure to the floor that relied on Democratic votes, House conservatives gave Johnson “a mulligan” in November for basically doing the same thing. Ninety-three House Republicans voted against the funding measure, but there was no effort to end Johnson’s speakership.
But Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and other conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus are signaling they won’t give Johnson another free pass — even though he has limited power to get his way given Democratic control of the White House and Senate.
He’s a placeholder for them to use to continue the political theater they have been allowed to use to waste money and time, in their continuing effort to prove the government doesn’t work. Sabotage. That’s the word and I’m pretty sure if there was any sanity this would be seen as the continuing sedition that it is by those that participated in an attempted overthrow of the government but still somehow keep their jobs. Why would they change tactics now?