Conservatives demand steep funding cuts as they fume over Johnson’s spending bill

In the latest sign of trouble for Speaker Mike Johnson’s spending bill, members of the Freedom Caucus, incensed over the package, are demanding a vote on steep funding cuts.

The group laid out what it wants in an X post on Tuesday night, including needing 72 hours to review the 1,550-page stopgap spending bill as well as two votes on conservative priorities, one on huge non-defense funding cuts and another on an amendment meant to preserve unused border wall material.

The Freedom Caucus said the three things should be included as part of a rule, which would govern the debate on the House floor for the short-term funding bill. The stopgap package as written would fund the government into mid-March as well as provide aid for natural disasters and farmers, among other things.

Members of the group appear to already be conceding that they won’t get their demands.

“That’s all we asked for, and we’re trying to help the conference … even though I hate all this garbage and we couldn’t get that,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said during an interview with Glenn Beck on Wednesday.

But Roy has filed legislation — known as the Disaster Offset and Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Act — laying out the changes to spending that the group is pushing for.

Johnson has said that he wants to, ideally, move the short-term spending bill through the Rules Committee and to the floor under a rule. Passing it through the Rules panel would require Johnson to win over three potential roadblocks on the committee, including Roy and Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

Not to mention, Johnson would need nearly unified support from his conference to get it to the floor, which would be a tall order at this point.

Johnson hasn’t yet publicly landed on a strategy as he continues to negotiate with his conference. But some members expect the current funding bill to come to the floor under suspension, which requires a two-thirds threshold for passage on the House floor. With dozens of Republicans expected to oppose the bill, Johnson will need to lean on Democrats for support.

Roy added in the interview that Republicans aren’t “taking it though the Rules Committee” and that the short-term spending bill could come up under suspension as soon as Wednesday, though he said the “rough plan” is currently Thursday morning.