Freedom Caucus fumes over deal to avert government shutdown

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The White House and congressional leaders announced an agreement on the last barrier to a government funding package on Tuesday, and the Freedom Caucus is not happy about it. Negotiators on the deal had been held up over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, whose funding House Republicans were angling to keep at 2023 levels.

The Freedom Caucus immediately sent a letter to Republican colleagues telling them to vote against the package, in typical foaming-at-the-mouth style. “There is an unprecedented assault on the safety of Americans and the sovereignty of our nation to do the ‘open borders’ policies of radical progressive Democrats led by President Joe Biden,” wrote the ringleaders, Reps. Bob Good of Virginia and Chip Roy of Texas. “The question of House Republicans is, what are we willing to do about it?”

The Freedom Caucus maniacs continue to demand that “core elements” of their extreme anti-immigration and anti-immigrant legislation be included in the DHS funding bill. They urge their colleagues “to join us in rejecting the appropriations package (or anything similar) slated to be before the House that will directly fund these disastrous policies, and choose instead to stand against this assault on the American people.”

Good luck getting enough of your colleagues to blow off their upcoming two-week Easter recess and allow the government to shut down, guys.

The agreement means that funding for DHS—along with the departments of Defense, Labor, and Health and Human Services, among other agencies—is now settled.

Biden announced the agreement Tuesday morning. “We have come to an agreement with Congressional leaders on a path forward for the remaining full-year funding bills,” he said. “The House and Senate are now working to finalize a package that can quickly be brought to the floor, and I will sign it immediately.”

The problem is the “quickly” part. The bill text hasn’t been written and likely won’t be available until late Tuesday or Wednesday. The House rules, which Johnson pledged to uphold, require that text be provided to all House members 72 hours before a bill comes to the floor, meaning that the earliest the House can pass it would be Friday, the deadline for funding. That would be too late for the Senate to get it in time to stop a shutdown beginning Saturday.

So Speaker Mike Johnson could either further enrage Republican extremists by dispensing with the 72-hour rule, or put another very short-term funding bill through to cover government operations until the funding package makes it through Congress, likely after their Easter recess. Either way he goes, he’s going to have pissed off MAGA members.