Bob Good to Speaker Johnson: ‘Don’t assume you have our votes’

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) warned House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) about support for bills from the House Freedom Caucus Friday.

“Don’t assume you have our votes for the things that don’t matter, when you don’t want ‘em for things that do matter,” the Freedom Caucus chair said during an interview with host Blake Burman on “The Hill on NewsNation” Friday.

Good’s statement comes after the House passed a stopgap funding bill Thursday after Johnson worked out a deal with other legislative leaders to avoid a partial government shutdown. However, Johnson had to count on Democratic support in the House to pass the legislation.

Johnson brought the legislation to the floor under suspension of the rules, avoiding the requirement to first approve a rule and speeding up the process for the bill’s approval. While conservatives were likely to block the rule, Johnson had to make up for the lower support in his own party now that suspending the rules meant the legislation needed two-thirds support to pass, and therefore required bipartisan support.

President Biden signed the bill Friday, meaning the government will stay open through March.

The House Freedom Caucus already expressed its displeasure with the bill Sunday, when the caucus’s account called it a “surrender” to the left on social media.

“The @HouseGOP is planning to pass a short-term spending bill continuing Pelosi levels with Biden policies, to buy time to pass longer-term spending bills at Pelosi levels with Biden policies. This is what surrender looks like,” the caucus posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted from the position for a similar situation in October, when Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) accused McCarthy of siding with Democrats on a continuing resolution to fund the government and launched the effort to remove the McCarthy from the Speaker position.

“Enough with the continuing resolutions. We’ve had plenty of time to address funding levels. Congress keeps punting this while our southern border remains a mess and our national debt continues to surge. We are doing the American people a disservice,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) wrote on X Sunday.

Biggs was one of eight Republicans, including Gaetz, who voted with Democrats to oust McCarthy from the Speakership in October.

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