House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing the fury of his Republican colleagues over yet another delayed and outsize spending bill.
Conservative lawmakers took to social media to publicly vent their dismay with the 1,500-page continuing resolution, torching the massive omnibus for failing to meet their party goals. At least one member of the upper chamber—Kentucky Senator Rand Paul—took that critique to the next level, outright questioning Johnson’s strength as a party leader.
“I had hoped to see @SpeakerJohnson grow a spine, but this bill full of pork shows he is a weak, weak man,” Paul posted on X early Wednesday. “The debt will continue to grow. Ultimately the dollar will fail. Democrats are clueless and Big Gov Republicans are complicit.
“A sad day for America,” Paul added.
The stopgap spending measure will fund the government through March 14, giving conservatives a chance to organize and reassess their spending priorities once their Republican trifecta takes effect.
The resolution was intended to be a “very skinny, very simple” stopgap solution, but what was ultimately presented to House lawmakers late Tuesday was a thick 84-day measure riddled with unrelated policies, including disaster relief needs related to the devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, an extension on the farm bill, health care policy, and, naturally, a raise for members of Congress.
Lawmakers have only until Friday to iron out their disagreements with the package and pass a version of the bill, or the government will enter a shutdown that will last through the holiday season.
Before the text of the continuing resolution was released on Tuesday, several other lawmakers hurled their own fire at the bipartisan effort, arguing that the three-month spending solution will only add to the federal deficit.
“Since we’ve been given the majority again, we’re adding $30 billion in literally totally unpaid-for additional deficit spending, just since November 5—in 45 days,” Texas Representative Chip Roy told C-SPAN. “I don’t see how that’s doing what we’re supposed to be doing.
“The conference itself owns this. The conference needs to decide whether we’re actually serious about spending.… We’re just fundamentally unserious about spending,” Roy continued, highlighting the fact that his party intends to shift cash away from Social Security, shrinking the time before the program goes bankrupt. “As long as you got a blank check, you can’t shrink government. If you can’t shrink government, you can’t live free.”