The House Freedom Caucus is opposing Speaker Mike Johnson's plan to temporarily fund the government, even though it was put forward by one of its own members.
Congress faces a Friday deadline to fund the government to avoid a shutdown, which would have wide-reaching effects for millions of federal workers and other Americans just before the winter holidays. Johnson has backed a plan to extend government funding for some agencies and programs until January 19 and continue funding for others until February 2.
This "laddered" continuing resolution would avoid the shutdown. while giving Republicans more time to reach a consensus on a long-term deal to pass a series of appropriation bills to fund the government through the fiscal year. But the plan is facing scrutiny from the more conservative members of Congress, who have said they would not vote for a continuing resolution (CR) that does not include spending cuts.
A continuing resolution is a spending bill that temporarily funds the government when Congress has not yet passed the appropriations bills needed to keep the government open through the fiscal year. Johnson's proposal keeps spending at current levels, but does not include additional funding for Israel, Ukraine or border patrol.
The Freedom Caucus, a coalition of conservative hardliners, released a statement in opposition to Johnson's plan Tuesday morning.
"The House Freedom Caucus opposes the proposed 'clean' continuing resolution as it contains no spending reductions, no border security, and not a single meaningful win for the American people. Republicans must stop negotiating against ourselves over fear of what the Senate may do with the promise of 'roll over today and we'll fight tomorrow,'" the statement reads.
The idea to use a laddered CR to avoid a shutdown was initially suggested by a member of the House Freedom Caucus. Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland initially pitched the idea, The Washington Post reported.
Johnson noted the idea stemmed from the caucus during an interview with Fox News Tuesday morning.
"I met with my House Freedom Caucus brothers and sisters last night because they invented it. The idea came out of Freedom Caucus for the laddered CR. I think it's a great innovation," he said.
Johnson also addressed the caucus' concerns, noting that Republicans' slim majority in the House of Representatives would make it difficult for the party to pass the substantial spending cuts embraced by those conservative lawmakers.
"They want to do some big spending cuts on the front end, but the problem is we only have a three-vote margin of Republicans. We don't have enough votes to do it. That's just reality," he said.
Harris has previously sought to make the case that his approach would allow for conservative victories.
"The two-step CR is a way to get the broken appropriations process back on track without resulting in a massive omnibus spending bill. Restoring federal fiscal restraint is especially important given the recent credit downgrade," he wrote Monday morning in a post to X, formerly Twitter.
Rep. Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the Freedom Caucus, voiced opposition to the spending plan.
"I will not support a status quo that fails to acknowledge fiscal irresponsibility, and changes absolutely nothing while emboldening a do-nothing Senate and a fiscally illiterate president," he wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Harris and Perry's offices for comment via email.
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Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more
