Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s allies are reportedly “furious” over his sudden flip on a Department of Homeland Security funding bill in which he rejected the Senate’s “joke” proposal only to cave to the terms days later, according to reports.
Privately and during conference calls, House Republicans have expressed frustrations over Johnson’s so-called “bait-and-switch” on the bill that proposes to fund most of DHS’s agencies other than immigration enforcement, according to Punchbowl News.
Johnson had initially brushed off the Senate’s two-track funding bill that omits funding for a key agency that carries out the president’s immigration agenda and instead had House members pass a 60-day stopgap bill that had little likelihood of passing in the Senate.
Yet days later, Johnson suddenly agreed to the Senate’s bill after closed-door discussions with the White House and abandoned the stopgap measure.
But Johnson’s support wasn’t enough to convince House Republicans to vote for the two-track bill before departing for a break, leaving DHS unfunded for a record 52 days now.
President Donald Trump bought Johnson some time after signing an executive order declaring DHS staff to be paid amid the shutdown that led to long TSA lines at airports.
But the result of Johnson’s back-and-forth on the bill has left even some of his closest allies angry. During a House Republican Conference call Friday, members complained about the strategy endorsed by Johnson as well as Senate Majority Leader John Thune, according to Punchbowl and the New York Times.
One Republican member told Politico Johnson’s maneuver was “pretty pathetic” and said the two-track bill was “taking a step back.”
The Independent has asked Johnson’s office for comment.
The House will return April 14, but Johnson is not expected to bring up the DHS funding bill until the Senate makes progress on funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Patrol, a person familiar with the matter told Axios.
The battle over DHS funding began in February when Democratic lawmakers refused to pass funding for the department without adding regulations for immigration enforcement agents. The anger toward federal agents arose after two U.S. citizens were shot and killed in Minneapolis in January during sweeping enforcement operations.
Negotiations between Democrats, the White House and Republican lawmakers have been drawn out, with few conclusions.
As a result, DHS employees went without pay for weeks while still being forced to work due to their status as national security-related employees.
Republican leadership had come to the conclusion that funding most of DHS, to provide much-needed relief to employees, while keeping immigration enforcement regulation open to negotiations, was the best option.
“The thing that some people want to do, we can’t do,” Thune said. “You’ve got to figure out what’s in the realm of the possible.”
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