House conservatives huddle with Speaker Johnson on alternate spending deal

Hardline conservative House members who were furious about a topline spending deal struck by congressional leaders left a meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Thursday saying they are working on an alternative plan.

“It’s not going to be the current deal,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), adding that he believed there would be some kind of stopgap funding measure to avert a government shutdown.

But Johnson has not committed to pursuing any new spending levels.

“We're having thoughtful conversations about funding options and priorities. We had a cross section of members in today. We'll continue having cross sections and members in and while those conversations are going on, I made no commitments,” Johnson said.

Backing out of the deal, if the Speaker goes that way, would throw massive uncertainty into how Congress will avoid a government shutdown ahead of Jan. 19 and Feb. 2 funding deadlines — and through the rest of the fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30.

Members of the House Freedom Caucus and their ideological allies huddled in Johnson’s office  a day after a group of conservatives tanked a procedural vote in a revolt against the spending deal that Johnson and Democratic leaders announced on Sunday — preventing the chamber from moving forward on three unrelated measures.

“There’s going to be a new deal drawn up and that's what we're in the process of doing,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said after leaving the meeting.

But Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a former chair of the Freedom Caucus, said that Johnson has not committed to anything yet.

“We’re still working,” Perry said.

The agreement announced over the weekend — which is largely in line with the caps set in the debt limit deal then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struck with President Biden last year — includes a $1.59 trillion top line, plus roughly $69 billion in budget tweaks to increase nondefense dollars for most of fiscal 2024. It also includes an additional $10 billion in cuts to IRS mandatory funding and a $6.1 billion clawback of unspent COVID-19 funds.

Johnson has said this week that the deal is the best that the conservatives could get under the circumstances of a razor-thin House majority, a Democratic Senate, and a Democratic White House.

This is a developing story and will be updated.