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Mike Johnson Keeps Passing Short-Term Funding Bills and Conservatives Are Over It

“It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Rep. Chip Roy of Johnson’s negotiating.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson
Johnson has managed to avoid his third government shutdown deadline since claiming the gavel. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Conservatives are growing increasingly agitated that Speaker Mike Johnson isn’t willing to play hardball in spending talks with the White House and Democrats.

Johnson has managed to avoid his third government shutdown deadline since claiming the gavel — this time for just a week, until March 8, by relying on a bipartisan “pro-governing” majority. For his right flank, it’s not something to celebrate.

“We’re sitting on a full house, sitting on our hand, and we’re looking at some idiot with a pair of twos, and we’re going to fold,” Texas Rep. Chip Roy, who wants to see deep cuts to government spending, told a group of reporters Wednesday. “It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”