Friday’s House bill to avert a government shutdown was trimmed 1,359 pages after America First Republicans revolted against House Speaker Mike Johnson’s original measure filled with pork.
The reduction in size underscores the failure of Johnson’s original plan: passing a massive spending bill with Democrat support that few read before members were asked to vote on it.
The miscalculation might be the final nail in Johnson’s speakership.
The original bill, proposed Wednesday, was 1,547 pages long. Friday’s bill was condensed into 118 pages and excluded the extreme amount of pork Johnson allowed in the original.
The bill would fund the government until March 14 and include disaster relief and farm aid.
The bill does not include an extension of the debt limit, which President-elect Donald Trump demanded, placing Johnson’s reelection on January 3 for Speaker in a precarious position.
Punchbowl News reported on the politics of the latest proposed measure:
Johnson is now pushing a short-term funding bill that keeps federal agencies open until mid-March. The bill will include $100 billion in disaster aid for the hurricane-battered Southeast and other states. There’s also $30 billion in aid for farmers and a one-year extension of current agriculture policy.
The measure will be taken up under suspension, according to senior GOP lawmakers and aides, meaning it needs a two-thirds majority to pass. There will be one vote, instead of individual votes on the component parts as Johnson first envisioned.
If House Democrats back it – which seems likely – and the Senate processes it quickly, the measure could be approved by tonight’s midnight shutdown deadline and sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
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