Mike Johnson Accused of 'Surrender' by Republicans

Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson has been accused of "surrender" by Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus, as the fallout from his short-term spending bill continues.

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has faced pressure after he, along with the Democrats' Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, announced a 2024 budget deal of nearly $1.66 trillion earlier this month to avert a government shutdown.

The speaker said the agreement slashed $16 billion in spending, according to his letter to colleagues, which he said "represents the most favorable budget agreement Republicans have achieved in over a decade."

But he has since faced criticism from his Congressional colleagues and figures within the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, with some saying they will vote against it, arguing it brings spending in line with the deal struck last year between Democratic President Joe Biden and the previous House speaker, Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy was ousted in October 2023 over his deal with the Democrats.

Amid increasing criticism, posting on X, formerly Twitter, the conservative group of House Republicans wrote:

"The @HouseGOP is planning to pass a short-term spending bill continuing Pelosi levels with Biden policies, to buy time to pass longer-term spending bills at Pelosi levels with Biden policies. This is what surrender looks like."

Montana Representative Matt Rosendale, a member of the caucus, added:

"Congress holds the power of the purse strings! We MUST start acting on our constitutional duties instead of caving to the special interests of the D.C. Cartel. This reckless spending CANNOT continue. I will be a hard NO to any short-term spending bill."

Newsweek contacted representatives for Johnson by email to comment on this story.

It isn't the first time the group has criticized the deal.

In a previous statement in December, the House Freedom Caucus said: "To call this 'unsustainable' is an understatement. It is a fiscal calamity. Unfortunately, members of the House and Senate have done little to force a course correction from this calamity. Indeed, many have been party to it. Worse yet, we are extremely troubled that House Republican leadership is considering an agreement with Democrats to spend even higher than the modest $1.59 trillion statutory cap set six months ago by the Fiscal Responsibility Act and to obscure the actual spending numbers with more shady side deals and accounting tricks. This is totally unacceptable."

The deadline to pass the four separate parts of the spending bill is January 19.