gotchanewsdaily.com 
Washington
CNN
—
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s late-December dealmaking with Democrats is stirring intense anger across his GOP conference, just days before a government spending deadline and weeks before the pivotal vote the Louisiana Republican needs to win to keep his gavel.
Details of the spending deal are still under wraps, but multiple House conservatives said Tuesday they feared Johnson and GOP negotiators have ceded too many Democratic demands — resulting in the kind of massive year-end package that Johnson has promised he’d avoid.
“It is a total dumpster fire,” said Republican Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri, voicing his frustrations at Johnson, whom he wouldn’t commit to backing on the floor in January.
Their anger is largely symbolic since most of those conservatives routinely oppose spending deals on the floor. But conservatives are sending an early warning shot to Johnson, suggesting this week’s funding fight could determine the speaker’s fate in that leadership vote.
“We’ll see. Everything’s got consequences,” said Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, when asked if the funding bill would impact his support for Johnson next month.
In recent days, Johnson and his allies have spent hours trying to keep conservatives on his side as negotiations continue. Johnson sat down with the House Freedom Caucus at their weekly meeting on Monday night as he detailed some of the spending conversations and worked to head off a conservative rebellion.
Rep. Byron Donalds, who attended that meeting, said members still want to see the text of the deal: “We got a lot of questions.”
“A deal put together like this, the number one question is, ‘What did the other side get?’” Donalds said.
A deal has been reached in principle but appropriators are still finalizing final text.
Aides familiar with the talks tell CNN that there is still a fight over aid for farmers as Republicans are desperate to include the additional funds in the end-of-year spending deal, and Democrats are continuing to make demands in exchange. This issue vexed negotiators over the weekend and has yet to be resolved, three sources told CNN on Tuesday morning.
Both Johnson and Republican Leader Steve Scalise signaled text would be out Monday night, but as of Tuesday morning, the sticking points remain, and one Democratic aide told CNN that there are other outstanding issues as well that can’t be unlocked until agricultural aid is figured out.
The aid for farmers is different than the disaster aid package that is expected to be included in this bill. That disaster aid package, sources say, is largely finished and will total just shy of $100 billion.
