WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to prevent a after new Republican Speaker was forced to reach across the aisle to Democrats when hard-right conservatives revolted against his plan.
Johnson’s proposal to temporarily fund the government into the new year passed on a bipartisan 336-95 tally, but 93 Republicans voted against it. It was the first time the new speaker had to force vital legislation through the House, and he showed a willingness to leave his right-flank Republicans behind 鈥� the same political move that cost the last House speaker, his job just weeks ago.
For now, of Louisiana appeared on track for a better outcome. His approach, which the Senate is expected to approve by week鈥檚 end, effectively pushes a final showdown over government funding to the new year.
鈥淢aking sure that government stays in operation is a matter of conscience for all of us. We owe that to the American people,” Johnson said earlier Tuesday at a news conference at the Capitol.
The new Republican leader faced the that led to McCarthy’s ouster 鈥� angry, frustrated, hard-right GOP lawmakers rejected his approach, demanded budget cuts and voted against the plan. Rather than the applause and handshakes that usually follow passage of a bill, several hardline conservatives animatedly confronted the speaker as they exited the chamber.
Without enough support from his , Johnson had little choice but to rely on Democrats to ensure passage to keep the federal government running.
Johnson’s proposal puts forward a unique 鈥� critics say bizarre 鈥� that temporarily funds some federal agencies to Jan. 19 and others to Feb. 2. It鈥檚 a continuing resolution, or CR, that comes without any of the conservatives have demanded all year. It also fails to include President Joe Biden鈥檚 request for for Ukraine, Israel, border security and other supplemental funds.
鈥淲e’re not surrendering,鈥� Johnson assured after a closed-door meeting of House Republicans Tuesday morning, vowing he would not support another stopgap. 鈥淏ut you have to choose fights you can win.鈥�
Johnson, who as the Republican nominee for president, hit the airwaves to sell his approach and met privately Monday night with the conservative Freedom Caucus.
Johnson says the innovative approach would position House Republicans to 鈥済o into the fight鈥� for deeper spending cuts in the new year, but many Republicans are skeptical there will be any better outcome in January.
Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican who is part of the House Freedom Caucus, did not hold back on his opinion of the stopgap bill: 鈥淚t鈥檚 crap.鈥�
He said he would give 鈥渁 little bit of room鈥� to Johnson, who is three weeks into the job of speaker. But Roy threatened to seize control of the House floor if conservative demands for cuts are not met in the months ahead.
The opposition from hardline conservatives left Johnson with few other options than to skip what’s typically a party-only procedural vote, and rely on another process that requires a two-thirds tally with Democrats for passage.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats were willing to find common ground with Republicans 鈥渨hile pushing back against Republican extremism whenever necessary.鈥�
In a statement with the other the top Democratic leaders, Jeffries pointed out that a federal shutdown 鈥渨ould hurt the economy, our national security and everyday Americans.” He had noted in a letter to colleagues that the GOP package met Democratic demands to keep funding at current levels without steep reductions or divisive Republican policy priorities.
Winning bipartisan approval of a continuing resolution is the same move that led McCarthy鈥檚 to oust him in October, days after the Sept. 30 vote to avert a federal shutdown. For now, Johnson appears to be benefiting from a in one of his first big tests on the job.
鈥淟ook, we鈥檙e going to trust the speaker鈥檚 move here,” said Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga.
But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a McCarthy ally who opposed his ouster, said Johnson should be held to the same standard. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the point in throwing out one speaker if nothing changes? The only way to make sure that real changes happen is make the red line stay the same for every speaker.鈥�
The Senate, where Democrats have a slim majority, has signaled its willingness to accept Johnson’s package ahead of Friday’s deadline to fund the government.
Senate Republican leader called the House package 鈥渁 solution鈥� and said he expected it to pass Congress with bipartisan support.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to see us working together to avoid a government shutdown,” he said.
But McConnell, R-Ky., has noted that Congress toward Biden’s request to provide U.S. military aid for and and for other needs. Senators are trying to devise a separate package to fund U.S. supplies for the overseas wars and to bolster border security, but it remains a work in progress.
If approved, passage of the continuing resolution would be a less-than-triumphant capstone to the House GOP’s first year in the majority. The Republicans have worked tirelessly to cut federal government spending only to find their own GOP colleagues unwilling to go along with the most conservative priorities. Two of the Republican bills collapsed last week as moderates revolted.
Instead, the Republicans are left funding the government essentially on autopilot at the levels that were set in bipartisan fashion at the end of 2022, when Democrats had control of Congress but the two parties came together to agree on budget terms.
All that could change in the new year when 1% cuts across the board to all departments would be triggered if Congress failed to agree to new budget terms and pass the traditional appropriation bills to fund the government by springtime.
The 1% automatic cuts, which would take hold in April, are despised by all sides 鈥� Republicans say they are not enough, Democrats say they are too steep and many lawmakers prefer to boost defense funds. But they are part of the debt deal earlier this year. The idea was to push Congress to do better.
The legislation also extends farm bill programs through September, the end of the current fiscal year. That addition was an important win for some farm-state lawmakers. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., for example, warned that without the extension, milk prices would have soared and hurt producers back in his home state.
鈥淭he farm bill extension was the biggest sweetener for me,鈥� said Pocan.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Farnoush Amiri and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
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