Jeffries warns that Johnson reneging on spending deal would tank the economy

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) warned Thursday that a decision by House Republicans to back out of a bipartisan spending agreement would all but guarantee a government shutdown and tank the national economy.

“To the extent that House Republicans back away from an agreement that was just announced a few days ago, it will make clear that House Republicans are determined to shut down the government, crash the economy and hurt the American people,” Jeffries said during a press briefing in the Capitol.  

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was among the four congressional leaders — representing both parties and both chambers — who endorsed an agreement Sunday establishing the top-line numbers dictating the funding for federal agencies through the remainder of fiscal 2024, which ends on Oct. 1. The White House is also on board.

But Johnson’s support has sparked an outcry from the staunchest conservatives in the House GOP conference, many of them members of the far-right Freedom Caucus, who are demanding steeper spending cuts in the name of deficit reduction.

On Wednesday, a handful of those conservatives surprised GOP leadership by opposing a procedural vote on unrelated bills to protest Johnson’s support for the spending deal, sending the signal that they were ready to block all legislative action in the House unless the Speaker reconsiders.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks at a weekly on-camera press conference at the Capitol on Thursday, January 11, 2024. (Allison Robbert)

On Thursday, Johnson huddled with the conservative agitators in his Capitol office, where several of the conservatives emerged with claims that Johnson is ready to abandon his support for the initial deal and renegotiate the terms within the House GOP.

“There’s going to be a new deal drawn up and that’s what we’re in the process of doing,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said after leaving the meeting.

Johnson, however, was quick to dispute that assertion, saying that while he’s talking to the various factions of his conference about their concerns with the deal, he hasn’t dropped his support for it.

“We’re having thoughtful conversations about funding options and priorities,” Johnson said. “We had a cross section of members in today. We’ll continue having cross sections and members in, and while those conversations are going on, I made no commitments.”

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Jeffries, meanwhile, is putting pressure on the Speaker to stick to his word, saying a deal is a deal.

“We have publicly and clearly unequivocally reached an agreement on the top-line spending number, and that is 1659,” Jeffries said. “There is nothing more to discuss.”