Ides of March: Conservative knives out for Speaker Johnson as House approves $1.2T spending package

WASHINGTON (CN) — Although House lawmakers on Friday approved a sweeping spending package aimed at sidestepping a partial government shutdown, the trillion-dollar legislation has proven a political trap door for the lower chamber’s Republican leader.

The House voted 286-134 to clear a six-title package of appropriations legislation that would fund the lion’s share of federal programs, including vital agencies such as the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security, through Sept. 30. Lawmakers are racing to get the $1.2 trillion measure through Congress before a stopgap measure keeping the government funded is set to expire Friday night.

Despite the appropriations bill’s bipartisan appeal, conservative Republicans were enraged at House Speaker Mike Johnson for bringing the legislation up for a vote.

“Frankly, I can’t defend the speaker,” said Virginia Representative Bob Good, chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, during a news conference Friday morning. “It’s the speaker’s decision to bring this to the floor for a vote.”

Republican lawmakers, especially those on Johnson’s right flank, have blasted the speaker for compromising with Democrats on the spending plan, which they argue funds Biden administration policies — particularly border security measures — that the GOP opposes.

Republicans have also complained that House leadership gave lawmakers little time to review the roughly 1,000-page legislation, which was released early Thursday morning. In a bid to slide under Friday’s fiscal deadline, the lower chamber moved ahead to consider the bill by suspending a procedural rule requiring 72 hours of debate on new legislation.

That wouldn’t stop conservatives from opposing the measure, Good told reporters. “We don’t need 72 hours to vote against a bad bill,” he said.

GOP anger over Johnson’s handling of the appropriations process raised questions about the Louisiana congressman’s future as head of the House Republican caucus, a position he’s held since November following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy under similar circumstances.

Good, for his part, sidestepped the issue, telling reporters that he was not having “a personnel discussion.”

But not every Republican lawmaker shared that outlook. As the House readied to vote on the spending bill Friday morning, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to vacate the speakership. Punchbowl News was first to report that development.

Greene blasted Johnson during remarks on the House floor, arguing that by working alongside Democrats on the appropriations package he had effectively handed majority control to the minority party.

Approving the proposed spending bill would tell Republican voters that “this majority is a failure,” the Georgia lawmaker said. “This is an atrocious attack on the American people,” she added. “The speaker of the House should not bring it to the floor.”

Greene’s motion to oust Johnson was not introduced as “privileged,” a procedural lever which lawmakers can use to force a vote on certain measures. The Republican can bring up the motion as privileged at any point, which would require the House to hold a vote within two legislative days.

The lower chamber begins a two-week recess on Monday.

It’s unclear whether there would be an appetite among Republican lawmakers for another protracted leadership crisis, especially during an election year. Work in the House effectively stalled for a month last fall as the GOP struggled to coalesce around a replacement for the ousted Speaker McCarthy. Lawmakers finally united around Johnson after failing to approve three other potential speaker candidates.

Meanwhile, the House’s hefty spending package heads to the Senate, where lawmakers will need to move quickly to approve it before the midnight fiscal deadline. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has suggested that he may try to hold up proceedings in the upper chamber.

President Biden has said he would sign the spending bill if it made its way to his desk.

Thanks to the long-standing spending impasse in Congress, lawmakers are already six months behind on budget negotiations. With 2024 funding nearly out of the way, appropriators must almost immediately head back to the drawing board and continue debate on the 2025 fiscal year, slated to begin in the fall.

Follow @BenjaminSWeiss

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