Meet the new boss, same as the old boss: New House Speaker Mike Johnson (R–La.) is amusingly pursuing the exact same means of funding the government as his ousted predecessor. Still at loggerheads over which funding priorities matter, the House is struggling to meet the looming deadline for passing bills to keep the government running, so Johnson is pursuing a two-tiered stopgap bill (we've heard this one before), which would extend funding for less-controversial government agencies like the Departments of Agriculture and Energy until January 19, with others funded until February 2.
This two-tiered stopgap bill is light on foreign defense spending but also fails to majorly trim the existing budget, so it may still anger the fiscal-hawk conservatives who have been holding the House captive over the last few months. "I will not support a status quo that fails to acknowledge fiscal irresponsibility, and changes absolutely nothing while emboldening a do-nothing Senate and a fiscally illiterate President," wrote Rep. Scott Perry (R–Pa.) on Twitter/X.
