Hill Republicans say funding deal reached, but Johnson’s dealmaking with Democrats stirs anger among conservatives

Clare Foran, CNN | 12/17/2024, 11:48 a.m.
Congressional Republican leaders have informed their members that they’ve reached a deal on government funding, with staffers now racing to …
Fog hovers over the dome of the US Capitol on December 10, in Washington, DC. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s late-December dealmaking with Democrats is stirring intense anger across his GOP conference, just days before a government spending deadline and weeks before the pivotal vote the Louisiana Republican needs to win to keep his gavel. Mandatory Credit: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images via CNN Newsource

Congressional Republican leaders have informed their members that they’ve reached a deal on government funding, with staffers now racing to finalize hundreds of pages of text, according to four GOP sources.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson’s late-December dealmaking with Democrats is stirring intense anger across his GOP conference, just days before a government spending deadline and weeks before the pivotal vote the Louisiana Republican needs to win to keep his gavel.

The deal is expected to extend funding into March, averting a shutdown this year and setting up a spending showdown in the early days of the Trump administration.

The deal — which Johnson told CNN he hopes to release Tuesday afternoon — involves nearly $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in relief for farmers in rural communities, those sources said.

It also includes a one-year extension of the farm bill, a provision benefiting biofuels and two major health measures: one extending telehealth flexibilities and another targeting pharmacy benefit managers, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

The aid for farmers is different from the disaster aid package that is expected to be included in this bill. That package, sources say, is largely finished and will total just shy of $100 billion.

It’s unclear when the House would vote on the plan, but leaders of both parties are confident they will avert a government shutdown ahead of Friday night’s deadline.

Multiple House conservatives said Tuesday they feared Johnson and GOP negotiators have ceded too many Democratic demands — resulting in the kind of massive year-end package that Johnson has promised he’d avoid.

“It is a total dumpster fire,” said Republican Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri, voicing his frustrations at Johnson, whom he wouldn’t commit to backing on the floor in January.

Their anger is largely symbolic since most of those conservatives routinely oppose spending deals on the floor. But conservatives are sending an early warning shot to Johnson, suggesting this week’s funding fight could determine the speaker’s fate in that leadership vote.

“We’ll see. Everything’s got consequences,” said Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, when asked if the funding bill would impact his support for Johnson next month.

In recent days, Johnson and his allies have spent hours trying to keep conservatives on his side as negotiations continue. Johnson sat down with the House Freedom Caucus at their weekly meeting on Monday night as he detailed some of the spending conversations and worked to head off a conservative rebellion.

Rep. Byron Donalds, who attended that meeting, said members still want to see the text of the deal: “We got a lot of questions.”

“A deal put together like this, the number one question is, ‘What did the other side get?’” Donalds said.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.