Mike Johnson Just Made One Bold Promise About Government Funding That Has Grassroots Conservatives Fuming

Congress just ended the longest government shutdown in American history.

Now establishment Republicans are racing to cut deals with Democrats.

And Mike Johnson just made one bold promise about government funding that has grassroots conservatives fuming.

Johnson Promises to Ram Through Remaining Spending Bills

RINO House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Tuesday he believes Congress can pass all nine remaining funding bills before the January 30 deadline without resorting to another continuing resolution.

Congress has until January 30 to fund major parts of the federal government after lawmakers approved a short-term measure in November that ended the 43-day shutdown.

Only three of 12 annual appropriations bills have become law so far.

"We cannot govern by CR or omnibus. And when we do that, it also loses Congress's opportunity and credibility," Johnson said. "It's taken a while, but we are finally moving that boulder uphill."

The House passed three more funding bills last week covering Commerce, Justice, Energy, and Interior departments totaling roughly $175 billion.

Those measures are now moving through the Senate with bipartisan support.

Johnson announced two additional bills covering Treasury, State Department, and national security agencies will hit the House floor this week.

The new minibus provides $76 billion for those agencies.

"As these bills come to the floor, we are reaffirming our commitment to return to regular order, restore accountability to the process, and be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars," Johnson stated Monday.

The base isn't buying it.

Establishment Republicans Call $9 Billion Cut "Savings" While Spending $76 Billion

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole championed the latest spending package as fiscally responsible because it cut $9.3 billion from last year's funding levels.

Establishment Republicans are calling this a 16% spending reduction and declaring victory for fiscal conservatism.

But they're still spending $76 billion in just this one package alone.

And this is just two of the remaining nine appropriations bills Congress still needs to pass.

The three bills that passed the House last week totaled $175 billion.

Do the math and you're looking at hundreds of billions in spending across all 12 appropriations bills while the national debt sits at $38.43 trillion.

"My goal is to get them all done before January 30, and get them done in a way that people on both sides of the aisle are comfortable voting for them, knowing that they didn't get everything they want but knowing that their worst fears and nightmares did not come true," Cole said.

Translation: establishment Republicans and Democrats struck a deal where both sides got to spend massive amounts of taxpayer money and nobody had to make the hard choices grassroots conservatives actually want.

Democrats praised the package for including $30 billion in election security grants and $5.5 billion for international humanitarian assistance programs.

Billions flying out the door to leftwing priorities while RINO Republicans pretend they fought hard.

"Is this appropriations package perfect? No. No appropriations bill ever is. But it does avoid another lapse in funding, and it rejects some very bad ideas," Ranking Member Jim McGovern said.

The real bad idea is calling yourself a conservative while authorizing nearly $80 billion in new spending in a single package because Democrats agreed to let you claim a $9 billion cut.

That's the kind of math that only makes sense inside the Washington swamp.

RINOs Keep Making the Same Empty Promises

Johnson keeps making the same promise about returning to "regular order" while cutting deals with Democrats to spend money the country doesn't have.

He said it in September 2025 before the 43-day shutdown.

He said it again in November when that shutdown ended.

Now he's saying it a third time with just 16 days left before the next deadline.

The current budget system has been in place since 1974, and Congress has only passed all required appropriations measures on time four times in nearly five decades.

Those years were 1977, 1989, 1995, and 1997.

Last year Congress never passed any full-year appropriations bills at all, instead funding the entire government through a year-long continuing resolution in March 2025.

The federal fiscal year began on October 1, but Congress failed to pass any of the dozen annual appropriations bills it's supposed to enact.

That triggered the shutdown that lasted from September 30 through November 12.

The process doesn't matter when establishment Republicans always end up in the same place – cutting deals with Democrats on spending packages that add to the debt.

Grassroots Conservatives Want Actual Spending Cuts

The disconnect between what the Republican base wants and what establishment Republicans deliver keeps getting wider.

Conservatives didn't give Republicans control of Congress to watch them authorize trillions more in spending – much of it going overseas and into fraudsters’ pockets – all while GOP leadership brags about $9 billion in cuts.

They wanted the Swamp drained, not bipartisan backslapping over who gets to spend what.

RINO Senate Majority Leader John Thune echoed Johnson's confidence about avoiding another continuing resolution.

But Congress still needs to pass six more appropriations bills beyond the ones currently moving through the pipeline.

That's six more opportunities for RINOs to strike deals with Democrats on hundreds of billions in additional spending.

The truth is establishment Republicans and Democrats are on the same team when it comes to spending.

Republicans champion cutting $9 billion while authorizing $76 billion in the same breath.

Democrats get their international aid and election security grants.

Everyone in Washington gets to claim victory while the taxpayers who actually work for a living get stuck with the bill.

The only thing that changes is how they package the expenditures before voting to approve them with broad bipartisan support.

Grassroots conservatives are tired of watching supposed Republicans govern exactly like Democrats when it comes to the one thing that matters most – spending taxpayer dollars while the national debt climbs toward $39 trillion.

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Sources:

• Axios, "Congress advances bipartisan funding package as shutdown deadline nears," January 5, 2026.
• Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, "Appropriations Watch: FY 2026," January 13, 2026.
• Discern Report, "Speaker Johnson Expects All Government Funding Bills to Pass On-Time," January 14, 2026.
• Joint Economic Committee, "National Debt Hits $38.43 Trillion," January 8, 2026.
• Pew Research Center, "Congress has long struggled to pass spending bills on time," October 1, 2025.