Speaker Mike Johnson insists his Republican conference is ‘unified,’ even though a vote to approve a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown sharply divided them.
The House passed a continuing resolution, or CR, on Thursday to fund the government – but 106 Republicans voted against the measure in a show of revolt.
‘We’re all unified,’ Johnson insisted about his GOP conference in an exclusively interview with DailyMail.com at the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., after the divided CR vote.
‘People are frustrated that the funding of the government the appropriations process has drug out so long,’ he explained.
‘I’m more frustrated than anyone,’ he told DailyMail.com, ‘but we have to allow the time for that process to play out.’
The CR set spending at 2023 levels established under Speaker Nancy Pelosi until March 1 for four agencies and March 8 for eight others.
It’s the third CR Congress has passed as it once again kicks the can down the road on funding the government in fiscal year 2024.
‘People are frustrated that the funding of the government the appropriations process has drug out so long,’ the speaker said
Johnson still holds out hope that the extra few weeks will allow Congress to come together and negotiate 12 separate bills to fund each agency of government.
He insists the extra time will allow Republicans to fight for conservative policy riders to be attached to those bills.
The CR ultimately passed 314-108 on Thursday afternoon with 109 Republicans voting for it and 106 against it.
But Johnson faced revolt from even his closest allies on the deal.
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, Johnson’s number three, voted against the bill. So did nine of Johnson’s committee chairs.
Stefanik, R-N.Y., told DailyMail.com in a statement that she had ‘concerns’ about the CR because it did not contain border security measures.
‘My Northern Border district has seen an astonishing 550% increase in apprehensions last year across the Swanton Sector which is why I have concerns about this week’s continuing resolution,’ she stated.
‘I know the Speaker is working tirelessly to secure the border in the next funding package,’ the GOP leader continued.
Other notable ‘no’ votes included House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, Budget Chair Jodey Arrington, Chair of China Select Committee Mike Gallagher, Homeland Security Chair Mark Green and a handful of other senior Republicans.
Some were frustrated, like Stefanik, that the speaker did not attach border security to the stopgap funding bill. Others just don’t approve of governing by CR at all.
The path for the House and Senate to conference on 12 separate appropriations bills within the next two months seems murky.
Speaker Johnson added to DailyMail.com that Republicans will have to ‘fight for our policies within those appropriations bills.’
The CR ‘allows us keeping the government open allows us the opportunity to do that. So we’re moving forward.’
He struck an optimistic tone about what’s ahead for the Republicans heading into the 2024 election in November.
‘We got big things ahead of big agenda ahead. We’re gonna keep this team together and govern health and I think we’re gonna expand the majority,’ he predicted.
‘I think we’re gonna win back the Senate for the Republican Party. I think we’re gonna win the White House as well. We’ll have a lot bigger and better celebration next January.’
Right-wing Freedom Caucus hardliners had tried to force Speaker Mike Johnson to attach H.R. 2, Republicans’ hardline border bill, to the deal – which would have thrown the government into a shutdown.
Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, R-Va., said he is furious with the speaker for passing a CR with no border provisions and threatened to tank other Republican-led bills in the future.
The hardliners even suggested they would rather plunge the government into shutdown in order to demand border security provisions.
‘If [Democrats] want to shut down the border, then it’s on them to shut down the government,’ Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told reporters.
‘It is GROUNDHOG DAY in the House chamber – all the time, every day. Yet again, spending money we don’t have!’ lamented Chip Roy in a bid to urge his colleagues to vote ‘no’ on the CR.
‘We know that Budget Act of 1974 calls for the 12 appropriation bills to be delivered by the House of Representatives by June 30. And everybody just ignores that like, like it’s a recommendation,’ Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., told reporters.
‘It’s the law. And I am disgusted, that yet we continue to ignore the process.’
Johnson resisted, instead relying on Democratic votes to make up for GOP defectors as a snowstorm barreled toward D.C. and lawmakers were gunning to get out of town.
The bill passed the House under suspension – meaning it required a two-thirds majority to pass but did not need to advance in a rule vote that typically only passes with the votes of the majority.
People attend the annual March for Life rally on the National Mall on January 19
Speaker Johnson added to DailyMail.com that Republicans will have to ‘fight for our policies within those appropriations bills’
A woman participates in the annual anti-abortion ‘March for Life’
Some hardliners threatened to tank future rule votes to thwart the Republican agenda until Congress passes border security.
‘That is the discussion,’ Burlison said of the idea. ‘If you’re ready to fight on the border. Let’s do it right now. Let’s not wait for some piece of garbage to come back from the Senate.’
The Senate is currently taking the lead on a national security package that would include border provisions in exchange for Ukraine and Israel aid.
The Senate had passed the continuing resolution earlier in a 77 to 18 vote.