Today has been a hellacious one for House Speaker Mike Johnson. Even after winning the 2024 elections, we must keep an eye on Republicans who tried to pass a pork-filled spending bill to avert a government shutdown. The latest iteration of the measure to keep the government open had a lot of goodies for members of Congress, including a pay raise and cost of living adjustments. It also included funding for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which has been cited for operations that suppressed free speech (via Axios):
On top of the anticipated conservative opposition to House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) deal with Democrats to fund the government, consternation is emerging from unusual corners of Congress.
Why it matters: Provisions raising congressional pay and allowing members of Congress to opt out of the Affordable Care Act have some lawmakers sweating the potential political fallout.
"They all want the [pay raise] and actual health insurance but don't want to vote for them," one House Republican told Axios.
"There's some grumbling," said a senior House Democrat.
Driving the news: The spending bill would repeal language in a stopgap spending bill passed earlier this year that freezes an automatic cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for members of Congress.
It would be the first time since 2009 that members of Congress got a pay increase.
It also includes language that would allow members to join the Federal Employee Health Benefits plan.
State of play: House Republicans' conservative wing is lining up against the bill, which they say is over-stuffed with legislative hobby horses. Some are singling out the pay raise in their condemnations.
Some of that opposition has been driven by billionaire Elon Musk, a close confidante of President-elect Trump, publicly criticizing the bill.
[…]
Zoom in: Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), one of the Democrats' most politically endangered members, said he will oppose the bill if the pay raise and ACA provisions are included.
Even Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who has been on the bad side of conservatives since he sided with Democrats on gun control legislation, recognized that this latest House bill is a dumpster fire. It’s been referred to as the “cramnibus” in some circles. It’s a mess.
So, with Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) filibuster threat and overall outrage among the GOP caucus, Speaker Johnson is scrambling for a Plan B, a clean spending CR without the other spending provisions and pork projects. There is a question about disaster relief in North Carolina, but those matters can be resolved once the new congress is sworn in after the holidays (via Politico):
Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership team is quietly discussing a plan B to fund the government amid conservative opposition and vocal criticism from incoming President Donald Trump’s top ally Elon Musk.
The Louisiana Republican is discussing dropping $100 billion in disaster aid plus other attachments and instead passing a “clean CR” — then dealing with the other issues in the new year, according to two Republicans with knowledge of the conversations. That would mean dropping disaster aid, $30 billion for farmers, and a one-year extension of the farm bill, among other items, at least for now.
Conservatives, many of whom typically don’t support stopgap funding plans on principle, have publicly bashed leaders’ spending plan. They won a powerful ally in Musk, who has been charged with cutting government spending and who Johnson recently brought to Capitol Hill to rally Republicans.
Plan B sounds better, Mr. Speaker. It would be nice to get an actual budget done next Congress, but let's not get ahead.
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UPDATE: Is this bill dead?
DEVELOPING: Fox News is reporting that @elonmusk's outspoken opposition to the CR spending bill and his threats of supporting primary challenges may have just derailed the bill. pic.twitter.com/nRONGkqH9K
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 18, 2024