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.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
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.)
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.
The new Speaker traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with former President Trump shortly before Thanksgiving in an effort to shore up his support among MAGA rebels, setting the stage for a showdown with the Senate next month.
Paul said conservatives want Johnson to pass the annual appropriations bills individually to maximize his leverage with Senate Democrats, setting up a prolonged negotiation that could wind up lasting months.
Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has introduced a bill with centrist Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) to establish a bicameral fiscal commission to find legislative solutions to decrease the debt.
Senate Republicans recently invited former Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) to speak to the Steering Committee before the Thanksgiving recess about his experience as a member of the “supercommittee” that Congress set up in 2011 to cut the annual deficit.
The original article contains 1,068 words, the summary contains 198 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!