Conservatives Appear To Soften Hardline Position On FY24 Topline Spending

Punchbowl News reports that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), “has told House colleagues that he expects negotiators to release a topline spending number [for FY24 appropriations bills] toward the middle of this week.”

• When the House GOP announces their topline number, we will get a firm idea of the risk profile of a government shutdown. If the GOP pursues a number significantly below the levels outlined in the Fiscal Responsibility Act – the Biden/former Speaker McCarthy (R-CA) bill to raise the debt limit in May - then Congress is set for a major confrontation without any clear pathway to reaching compromise in conference.
• The Hill reports that after months of hardline statements on spending, House conservatives may be prepared to soften their position amid a struggle to pass partisan spending bills in the House.
• Rep. David Joyce (R-OH), a key GOP appropriator, told The Hill. “Basically, they [conservatives] agreed to what we had said all along, that the numbers that the Speaker agreed to with the president were the numbers that are set and the numbers we should live by."
• Punchbowl outlines the Congressional calendar ahead of the next government shutdown threat: “The House and Senate are only scheduled to be in session for another seven days this month. And then lawmakers leave for Christmas and New Year’s Day. The Senate returns Jan. 8, while the House is back the following day. There are only 10 days at that point until the first shutdown deadline.”