Billy House, Erik Wasson | (TNS) Bloomberg News
House Speaker Mike Johnson is ending 2023 with an ominous preview of what to expect in the new year: dissension in his ranks that threatens to hamstring deals on U.S. government funding, Ukraine war aid and border policy.
It could also cost him his job.
The Louisiana Republican, elected speaker in October after GOP hardliners ousted his predecessor for making deals with Democrats, sent the House home for the holidays on Thursday after passing a bipartisan defense policy bill over strong objections from 73 ultra-conservatives.
“If we do things like what we did today, then the Freedom Caucus will absolutely be a problem,” Representative Bob Good of Virginia, the incoming chairman of that rebellious group, warned after the vote on the defense bill.
Good and his fellow Freedom Caucus members rejected the wide-ranging bill because it preserves the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy and extends controversial electronic spying, both of which they oppose.
The measure ultimately passed the House with more Democratic than Republican support.
Johnson had already angered ultra-conservatives last month when he averted a government shutdown by pushing through a short-term spending agreement that many considered eerily familiar to the one struck in September by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
That provoked a backlash from lawmakers on the right, who for weeks stalled action on spending bills.
Unlike McCarthy, Johnson will have a second chance at government funding when the House reconvenes just 10 days before a Jan. 19 fiscal deadline.
The only way to avoid a shutdown is to risk further inflaming hardliners by striking a quick deal with Senate Democrats and the White House. Such a deal will be difficult because Johnson is so far siding with conservatives in seeking a lower overall spending level.
At the same time, Johnson must sort out $66 billion in Ukraine aid and border policy, two issues that have become enmeshed…
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