Rebellious House conservatives allowed the leadership’s floor agenda to get back on track Thursday after they buttonholed Speaker Mike Johnson to try to get him to renegotiate the bipartisan spending deal to seek deeper cuts.
One day after members of the Freedom Caucus and other conservatives derailed unrelated legislation on the House floor in a protest vote, Johnson met in his office for more than 90 minutes with key lawmakers from his party’s right flank in an effort to broker a compromise. While the speaker said he didn’t make any commitments, the GOP holdouts were at least happy enough with what they heard to flip their votes to “yea” on the same rule Thursday.
“We’re having thoughtful conversations about funding options and priorities,” the Louisiana Republican told reporters after the meeting. “While those conversations are going on, I’ve made no commitments. So if you hear otherwise it’s simply not true.”
