'Democrats own the speaker's gavel': Republicans 'pissed' as Johnson faces budget bill rebellion

The clock is ticking. Speaker Mike Johnson now has less than 14 hours to pass his $1.2 trillion “minibus” spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown, It’s unclear he has the votes, and the vast far-right portion of the House GOP conference is making it clear they oppose the legislation. This crisis is one of the speaker’s own making. The midnight deadline is one he negotiated, after being unable to have a budget bill drafted to avert what originally was a March 8 deadline. That March 8 deadline was the result of a stopgap bill he passed.

If Speaker Johnson does not pass this legislation in time for the Senate to also pass it, and President Biden to sign it, all before 12:01 AM Saturday, technically the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, State, and the legislative branch would shut down, as CNN notes.

Going into Friday it appeared Johnson would have a heavy lift, as Punchbowl News‘ Jake Sherman has been reporting. Johnson would need to rely on about 100 GOP votes to pass his bill, plus the vast majority of House Democrats. 290 votes are needed to pass, Punchbowl reports.

Many far-right House Republicans are growing angrier over what they see as their priorities that are not being supported by the legislation – while others suggest they would not be upset by a shutdown. Or, as The New Republic reported Thursday evening, “The far-right Freedom Caucus is pissed at Mike Johnson (again).”

https://www.alternet.org/mike-johnson-2667580074/