House Spending Bill Divides Republicans

House Republicans are revolting over an attempt by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to pass a new spending bill and prevent a government shutdown. The House must pass a continuing resolution by Friday to avoid such an event, but the 1,500-page bill proposed by the speaker raised sharp objections Wednesday from both Congressional Republicans and outside allies.

Conservative representatives on the House Rules Committee told the Hill on Tuesday that the proposal would not make it through the committee. That would mean that the bill would have to be brought to the floor with a different procedure that would require a two-thirds majority vote for passage instead, necessitating the cooperation of Democrats.

Perhaps more damaging still is the criticism the resolution received from external heavy hitters. Elon Musk attacked the bill as wasteful, posting on X Wednesday morning that “any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” The prospect of a Musk-backed primary challenge will provide even otherwise supportive Republicans with serious cause for concern.

Donald Trump and J.D. Vance also joined the choir of critics Wednesday, releasing a joint statement calling on Republicans to reject the spending bill as currently constituted and instead pass “a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.” They also argued that the new bill should contain a provision to raise the debt ceiling.

“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration?” the statement read.

The tight deadline means that a new bill is almost an impossibility if a government shutdown is to be avoided. Speaker Johnson may rely on House Democrats to provide the necessary margin for the passage of the bill, a move that is sure to attract further criticism from Republicans and may cause dissatisfied party members to challenge his leadership in the chamber.