Republicans furious with Speaker Mike Johnson’s $1.6T spending plan TORPEDO advancement of other bills in protest and float possibility of ousting him: Congress barrels toward another shutdown in 9 DAYS

Conservatives enraged by Speaker Mike Johnson’s $1.6 trillion budget deal with Democrat Chuck Schumer are torpedoing other GOP bills in protest and even flirting with the idea of ​​impeaching him.

The handful of right-wing members are angry that Johnson is working with Democrats to prevent another government shutdown in just nine days. They want Johnson to push for more cuts and demand that security measures be included at the borders.

Tensions flared in the House of Representatives on Wednesday as thirteen of the Republican hardliners rose up against their own party leadership to undermine a typically dull procedural bill.

And now the House of Representatives is at a standstill again, with Republicans unable to pass bills unless conservatives lift their protest blockade.

A visibly irritated Johnson was seen on the floor of the House of Representatives, huddled with his team and two of the incendiary Republicans: Chip Roy and Bob Good.

He seemed the most publicly frustrated since he took the gavel in late October, shook his head and spoke animatedly to Republican rebels.

Roy, R-Texas, a prominent member of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, first floated the idea of ​​pushing Johnson out of power with a motion to leave earlier this week.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a prominent member of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, first floated the idea of ​​pushing Johnson out with a motion to leave earlier this week

“If they totally screw it up, we’re not going to get any policy reforms… I don’t know why we would keep him as speaker,” he said on Blaze TV. “I’ll leave it on the table.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, called his vote for Johnson a speaker “one of the worst votes I’ve cast yet…in my four terms.”

But Johnson said on Fox News after the floor drama that he is not concerned about a motion to vacate.

He mentioned Roy, Ralph Norman and other hardline Republicans who are frustrated with the spending deal because “it doesn’t go far enough.”

“I’m frustrated too,” he said, “but remember we have a two-vote margin in only one chamber. We only have the majority at home. And so we have to work with the numbers we have and get the best out of ourselves.”

“And I say to these guys, and to the American people, we’re going to work every day to achieve the best possible outcome,” Johnson continued.

The thirteen Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against a rule that would have allowed their own party’s legislation to move forward.

Adoption of the rule would have allowed the House to advance legislation to repeal the Biden administration’s policies on electric vehicle tax credits and labor regulations.

“Apparently the speaker has no plans to do anything other than surrender, we hope to change his mind,” Davidson said Tuesday after a conference meeting, frustrated with the spending plan.

Asked whether Johnson should be fired, he told reporters: “He should never have been hired.”

With only nine days to avoid a partial government shutdown on January 19, some hardliners have proposed shutting down the government to gain more concessions.

But with a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives and a Democratic-led Senate, it is unlikely that a bill conservative enough for their liking could become law.

Earlier this week, Johnson unveiled a $1.6 trillion spending plan to fund the government through fiscal year 2024, the same level agreed to in the debt limit deal between President Biden and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The deal includes $886.3 billion for defense spending and $772.7 billion for non-defense programs.

The deal actually spends $1.658 trillion, but a side deal of offsets and budget cuts reduces that number by $69 trillion on the non-defense side. It will also save Biden’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) $20 billion.

Republicans will need significant support from Democrats to pass the bill under a suspension of the rules. Suspending the rules means that hardliners cannot stop a rules vote, but it does mean that the legislation must receive a two-thirds majority to pass.

Other moderate Republicans scoffed at the idea of ​​impeaching the chairman over his spending plan.

“It’s a ridiculous idea,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told reporters. “No one should bring up the word ‘vacation.’

“It’s a tough job under the best of circumstances,” said Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., noting that Johnson’s spending deal and the resulting response were reminiscent of a similar series of events under McCarthy.

‘We go back to where we were in June, before the House took a manic turn and threw Kevin McCarthy out of his job.”