House conservatives give President Johnson a ‘mulligan’ in funding fight

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is getting a free pass from hard-line Republicans who are upset with his approach to keeping the government open with a “clean” funding extension, but are holding him to a different standard than the former president. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — for now.

“Everybody gets a mulligan,” the rep said. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who voted against the continuing resolution (CR).

Weeks ago, Gaetz led a group of eight Republicans who joined with Democrats to oust McCarthy from the presidency, in part because of how he pushed through a CR with Democrats’ help.

But the same members who stood up against McCarthy were far more lenient with Johnson’s very similar move, though they regret that the latest two-step CR didn’t include spending cuts or create the House to extract conservative policy concessions of the Senate and White House.

Although they voted against the continuing resolution, no one is clamoring to take away Johnson’s gavel, and few seriously question his leadership.

“He’s had two weeks to get through it. His predecessor had been doing it since January, and then he put us in front of the Sept. 30 deadline,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), a another of eight GOP members who voted to oust McCarthy.

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The change in attitude has frustrated those who supported McCarthy and did not agree with impeaching him.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (RNC), a McCarthy ally who served as speaker pro tempore after the former speaker’s impeachment, said it was up to those who voted to remove McCarthy’s gavel to explain “how they can contort- se to support now. this speaker making the same game call.”

“It depends on their acrobatics, their contortion to justify their position,” said McHenry.

Of course, not all hardline Tory members were ready to reject Johnson’s handling of the continuing resolution.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) was particularly outraged that Johnson chose to push passage through a fast-track suspension process that avoided any chance of Republicans blocking a procedural vote while relying on strong Democratic support for the approval

“I have to tell you, you can’t assume my vote on any bill if the president brings it to us,” Roy said Tuesday on Fox Business.

The bill passed Tuesday with near-universal support from House Democrats, with two dissenting votes, while 93 of the 221 House Republicans opposed it.

Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), another member who voted to oust McCarthy, declined to comment on the passage of the shutdown and Johnson’s leadership Tuesday evening.

And with House Republican leadership forced to try twice last week to pass full-year appropriations bills, Johnson has a steep climb ahead of him with no clear path out of the quagmire.

“He has a very difficult management task,” said Rep. Dan Bishop (RNC). “But I know his heart is in it.”

Gaetz had another sports metaphor to explain the GOP’s willingness to let Johnson remain speaker even as he moves to pass another term.

“When you change football coaches, like the new coach coming in, he still has to coach the last coach’s team for a few games before they really set up their system and offense” , Gaetz said. “So this is the last McCarthy play we have to do, and I know President Johnson doesn’t even want to do it.”

Johnson has made a similar argument.

“I can’t turn around an aircraft carrier overnight,” the spokesman said at a news conference Tuesday.

And Johnson told CNBC Tuesday morning that the two-step CR, which has part of the government’s funding exhausted by Jan. 19 and the rest by Feb. 2, did more than just extend a single date for try to implement the change, arguing that it puts the House in a better position to avoid a massive omnibus funding package.

When asked about criticism from “arch-conservatives,” Johnson replied: “I’m one of the arch-conservatives, OK?”

“I want to cut spending right now, and I’d like to put political restraints on it. But when you have a three-vote majority, like we do right now, we don’t have the votes to move it forward,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s conservative credentials are one reason hard-liners are more willing to trust him. He is the former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House.

On Monday evening, Johnson made an in-person visit to the weekly House Freedom Caucus meeting to discuss the interim funding bill, members confirmed, a move that is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for a speaker.

However, the Freedom Caucus released a formal position statement opposing the CR on Tuesday. But the position was sure to note that the group is “committed to working with President Johnson,” while adding that it is seeking “bold change.”

“It’s a unique thing. We trust what he says,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (RS.C.), a member of the Freedom Caucus. “He’s not going to meet with a group and tell the Freedom Caucus something else. , which is a good thing.”

Mychael Schnell contributed.

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