GOP hardliners could shut down government in 9 days if Mike Johnson doesn’t grant demands

The far-right House Freedom Caucus (HFC) published a letter on Wednesday calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to acquiesce to a laundry list of policy demands in order to avoid a costly government shutdown.

Axios exclusively reports that with two separate government funding deadlines looming on March 1 and March 8, the HFC is now calling on Johnson to back a "year-long funding resolution" that would result in across-the-board budget cuts to federal agencies by April 30. Pursuing this option would mean that Johnson effectively abandons his ongoing work with lawmakers to come to an agreement on funding levels for individual agencies. The HFC also wanted Johnson to provide it with an update on numerous extreme policies it was pursuing in current negotiations.

"If we are not going to secure significant policy changes or even keep spending below the caps adopted by bipartisan majorities less than one year ago, why would we proceed when we could instead pass a year-long funding resolution that would save Americans $100 billion in year one?" The HFC letter read, explaining its support for the cuts.

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Some of the policies the HFC has called for in the next budget bill include reducing Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' salary to $0, defunding gender-affirming care, defunding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programming instituted via executive orders and defunding President Joe Biden's student loan cancellation programs, among others.

"There are MANY other policies and personnel that Congress should not be funding, and a failure to eliminate them will reduce the probability that the appropriations bills will be supported by even a majority of Republicans," the letter read. "In fact, the last 'continuing resolution' passed with 107 Republicans supporting it and 106 Republicans opposing it."

Johnson's paper-thin majority got even thinner last week, after Democrat Tom Suozzi won the special election for New York's 3rd Congressional District, which was previously held by disgraced former Rep. George Santos (R-New York) before he was expelled from Congress. In order to pass any bills, Johnson can only afford two defections from his caucus assuming full attendance.

The HFC's demands, while stringent, may still be in play, given Johnson's past capitulation to the faction. The March 1 and March 8 funding deadlines are part of the "laddered" solution Johnson brokered with the HFC the last time he faced a looming shutdown.

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