House Republican hardliners are frustrated at Speaker Mike Johnson for once again passing a “clean” short-term federal funding bill to avert a partial government shutdown this week.
“It’s just the usual c–p. Swamp is going to swamp, nothing’s changing, we’re spending more money. We’re not changing the bureaucracy,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “We’re afraid to shut down, we won’t use the power of the purse, and the result is a demonstrably weaker America.”
Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and their allies have been pushing House GOP leaders to leverage a shutdown to force the Democrat-dominated Senate and White House to agree to conservative policies on the U.S. border and elsewhere.
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The House passed a short-term extension of fiscal 2023’s government funding, known as a continuing resolution (CR), on Thursday along bipartisan lines. It’s the fourth such extension passed since Sept. 30. While a majority of both parties supported the measure, the bill received significantly more votes from Democrats than from Republicans.
GOP lawmakers opposed to passing “clean” CRs – meaning without Republican policy riders and at current spending levels – have argued that it extends the previous Democrat-controlled Congress’ priorities. Differences over government funding have led to a political civil war within the House Republican Conference – ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted by Republican hardliners after putting the first “clean” CR on the floor late last year.
House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, R-Va., told Fox News Digital that Thursday’s measure will only lead to fiscal 2024 spending bills that his group will also oppose.
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“We got no wins for the American people. We’re just further exacerbating the debt situation by continuing the [Democrat] spending levels, the [Democrat] policies that are destroying the country,” Good said. “We’re doing nothing for the border. We’re doing nothing to demonstrate we really care about the spending, and all this was was a bridge to a bill that will be even worse.”
Asked whether Johnson could face pushback from GOP rebels, Good said, “Everything’s on the table to try to figure out what to do, but it’s unfortunate the direction that we’ve chosen to go.”
A partial government shutdown, even a short one, has the potential to significantly disrupt federal programs and potentially furlough hundreds of government employees. Johnson was also under added pressure to avoid a shutdown ahead of President Biden’s planned March 7 State of the Union address.
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., accused Congress of failing to do its duty by not leveraging a shutdown.
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“We just keep spending money, and we keep the policies that are in place, and that means the border remains open,” Biggs said on the House floor. “This country is in danger because of this administration, but not just [the] administration, but because this body does not use what the founders gave us as the ultimate tool, and that is the purse strings.”
The CR overwhelmingly passed the House, 320-99, with 113 GOP lawmakers voting for it, while 97 voted against. Two hundred and seven Democrats voted for it, versus just two who were opposed. In a modest win for Johnson, however, this CR got more GOP votes than the extension he put on the House floor in January, which got 107 Republicans’ support.
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