Mike Johnson says he won't back out of spending deal despite opposition from Freedom Caucus

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday he will not back out of a controversial spending deal to avoid a government shutdown that is opposed by several members of his conference.

Johnson on Sunday announced a deal with other congressional party leaders on a $1.59 trillion spending package for fiscal year 2024, which has been attacked by members of the House Freedom Caucus as insufficiently conservative. After negotiations with dissident members, Johnson announced Friday that he would uphold the deal, even though members have threatened to remove him from office over the matter.

“Our front-line agreement remains,” Johnson told reporters, adding that “we're taking the next steps together and working toward a robust appropriations process. So stay tuned for all of that.” His announcement comes after reports that he was considering pulling out of the deal at the urging of dissident Republicans, who defected on Wednesday to oppose a GOP-backed package of rules governing the passage of the the week, which led to his defeat.

On Thursday, Johnson did not deny that he was reconsidering the deal. “I haven't made any commitments,” he said said after several meetings with House Republican dissenters in the speaker's room, which continued on the House floor, as observed by the Daily Caller News Foundation from the chamber gallery.

Johnson's deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer follows a deal brokered in May 2023 between President Joe Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy on budget levels for 2024 and 2025. That deal , embodied in the Fiscal Responsibility Law, was opposed of 71 House Republicans, some of whom continue to oppose its use for fiscal year 2024 and are calling for more spending cuts.

“Democrats won't support including poison pill policy changes in any of twelve appropriations bills,” said Schumer regarding the content of the agreement, the legislative text of which has not yet been released. “Not a nickel was cut,” he later noted of its contents.

Dissident Republicans have suggested they may seek to remove Johnson from office through a “motion to vacate the chair” over the deal. The measure was last used by Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, with the support of seven Republicans and all House Democrats, to remove McCarthy from office in October, prompting a three-year election process weeks that saw three high-ranking candidates: majority. Leader Steve Scalise, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Majority Whip Tom Emmer all failed before Johnson's election.

“I'm leaving it on the table,” Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, one of the dissenters, said Tuesday, adding: “I think the speaker needs to know that we're angry about [the deal].” A spokesman for Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told the DCNF that he is “still thinking” whether he would support impeachment of Johnson.

“I'm a hard-line conservative,” Johnson said in his defense. “It's the best possible deal that conservatives and Republicans could get under the circumstances.”

The federal government will partially shut down on January 19 if a required spending bill is not passed.

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