Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

‘Does It Disturb You?’: Fox News Hosts Press Mike Johnson On GOP Opposition To Behemoth Year-End Spending Bill

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Fox News hosts Brian Kilmeade and Lawrence Jones questioned Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on Wednesday about Republican backlash to a massive Tuesday spending bill to fund the government.

Conservative lawmakers criticized House Republican leadership after the release of the 1,574-page continuing resolution (CR), which would extend current government funding levels through mid-March to avert a partial government shutdown by the Friday night deadline. After playing clips of criticism from Republican Missouri Rep. Eric Burlison, Republican South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman and Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy on “Fox & Friends,” the hosts asked about the opposition to the bill, but Johnson defended it.

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“Mr. Speaker, you expected some blowback when you were putting this together as you try to get across the finish line and have the government pay for itself up until March,” Kilmeade said. “What could you tell us about this bill and does it disturb you some Republicans seem to be very critical of it?”

Johnson acknowledged the criticisms from Burlison, Norman and Roy, saying they raise valid concerns regarding government debt and spending. However, he said that the bill was necessary to fund the government until President-elect Donald Trump is in office.

“When we start the new Congress in January, when Republicans are in control and DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency] is on working on all six cylinders, we’re going to be able to scale back the size and scope of government,” Johnson said. “But before we get to that point, remember, right now we only control one half of one third of the federal government. Remember, Democrats are still in charge of the Senate and the White House.”

Johnson also asserted that Burlison, Norman and Roy “were a part of this decision” to pursue the short-term measure.

“We decided even though we don’t normally like short-term stopgap funding measures, it made sense here. Instead of doing, you know, [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and [President Joe] Biden spending for 2025, we pushed this decision into March,” he said. “It’ll be March 14th. So the feature there is that we’ll have a Republican controlled Congress and Trump back in the White House and we get to decide spending for 2025. So that was a good thing.”

“But Mr. Speaker, I think the confusing part is ’cause typically when there is objection to bills like that, you hear the Freedom Caucus, which you heard Chip Roy, but you even have moderate members who are in big races,” Jones said. “You got [Republican New York Rep.] Mike Lawler, who is not, you know, an extreme, you know, fiscal conservative. But he’s saying the same thing. So how did you lose the Freedom Caucus and the moderate members?”

Johnson stated it “is the sausage making process” and noted that there are “two major emergencies” that require “emergency funding.”

“We had a record historic hurricane season that we all know, Helene and Milton and the rest that destroyed a big swath of the country. We have to have funding for that. That’s a hundred billion dollars to rebuild six states,” Johnson said. “And then on top of that, we have our farmers, our small farmers and ranchers, our food producers in this country are in jeopardy of going under permanently. They’ve had three lost years in a row, primarily because of ‘Bidenomics’ and inflation and lots of other factors outside their control.”

“So for the first time since I’ve been in Congress, guys, in 8 years, it’s not just farmers and ranchers urgently needing the help,” he continued. “We now have the creditors, the lenders, the banks who give them those loans who are saying we have to have a stopgap measure …  If we crush domestic food supply, that is a direct threat to national security. We need all those small farmers and ranchers. And that’s included in the bill as well. So when you add all those things together, that’s what makes people nervous because of the price tag.”

The House will initially vote on the CR before it goes to the Democratic-controlled Senate. Senate Republicans, including Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott both criticized the CR on Tuesday.