Halfway there

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s first funding victory comes with a key set of questions for the rest of the GOP: is this a meaningful win for conservatives? Or just for Johnson’s speakership?

The House of Representatives passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024 by a 339-85 vote on Wednesday afternoon, halfway funding the government for the remainder of 2024’s fiscal year and averting a partial government shutdown that would have otherwise gone into effect on Friday. The package contains six of the 12 needed appropriations bills and accounts for $467.5 billion in funding.

Two Democrats joined 83 Republicans in opposition to the bill.

With the vote, the House has taken a significant step towards breaking the loop it's been on since September: punting deadlines to negotiate government funding, running out of time, punting again.

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-N.V., believes it’s a move in the right direction.

“Obviously it isn’t 12 appropriations bills which is the goal. But if that is still the goal—and I think it is—I think we have to get through these things.” Amodei said.

Even so, it’s left many of the House’s most conservative members feeling like they could have done better. The conservative flank of the GOP takes issue with the contents of the bill itself, and the means by which it was passed.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Tx., lamented that the bill sets the federal government on a trajectory to spend more than it did last year.

“We’re going to blow the lip off our caps and spend $1.66 trillion,” Roy said, noting that in 2023, the government had spent $1.59 trillion. “We didn’t get any of the major wins that we worked all last year to get.”

Additionally, Roy noted the bill cuts out many key ride-ons Republicans had hoped to secure such as measures to defund Planned Parenthood, defunding sanctuary cities, defunding the Veterans Affairs’ vaccine mandate, and other GOP policy priorities.

That’s one front.

A second frustration among these Republicans is the means by which the bill passed.

Johnson brought the bill to the floor on “suspension of the rule,” meaning it circumvented potential amendments and input that’s normally a part of the legislative process.

It might seem like a minor, parliamentary gripe, but to lawmakers like Roy and other members of the House Freedom Caucus, it goes against Johnson’s promise to return the chamber to regular order.

Amid the criticisms, the bill does mark one significant change Republicans have demanded. It returns—at least in part— the appropriations process to its 12-bill roots. In the past 40 years, Congress has passed its spending needs through a single, massive bill, often referred to as an omnibus package. Johnson’s package, which its critics call a “minibus,” binds together six of the bills at once. Ideally, Amodei says regular order would mean considering these bills one by one, separately.

I asked Amodei if he thinks Johnson’s package is at least better than an omnibus.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Amodei said again. “Yes. I guess the answer is yes. I don’t think [Johnson] can claim victory. I think he did what he could under the circumstances.”

To bring back the 12 bills at all amid a divided government strikes Dr. Jared Pincin, associate professor of economics at Cedarville University, as a win Republicans can build off of in 2025.

“The passage of the appropriations bills were a good step towards establishing more normal orders,” Pincin said. “Republicans, both conservatives and institutions, should prioritize normal order this year and sell it to voters so that they can govern in a serious manner.”

Asked if he thinks that House conservatives should do more to hold Johnson accountable, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fl., said he’s less focused on that and more on making sure Republicans turn to other pressing policy priorities.

“I don’t think that’s what we should be focused on. I don’t think that’s the core question. I think the core question is: what are we going to do to secure our border? I think everything else is just managing the chaos of Washington.”

The spending fight isn’t over just yet. Johnson must still pass the remaining six funding bills before a separate deadline on March 22. These bills, thought to be more contentious than the ones already passed, present one final challenge to the Speaker on appropriations.

When asked where those bills stood, Amodei said they had a ways to go.

“They’re not done,” Amodei said. “The answer to the status is that it’s not done. They have another two weeks.”