Conservatives Slam Deal to Avert Shutdown

Conservatives in both the House and Senate are criticizing a package of six bills that needs to pass by Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown, The Hill reported on Tuesday.

The package was originally expected to pass easily since it received bipartisan support.

But it has become a political football in the power struggle between the Republican leadership and conservatives aligned with former President Donald Trump and thus faces a more difficult path in the Senate, especially since it includes more than 6,000 earmarks, the bane of conservatives.

With Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announcing he will not run again for the position, his top deputy Senate GOP Whip, John Thune, R-S.D., is in a tough race with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to become the next Senate Republican leader.

GOP analysts have pointed out that if Thune helps pass the package, it could harm his backing among Senate conservatives, who are an important swing bloc, especially since Cornyn has made a strong attempt to outflank Thune on the right by courting Senate conservatives.

“The pressure on John Cornyn and John Thune is to be much more conservative going forward before the (leadership) election to make sure they don’t generate opposition from conservatives in the caucus who don’t want to see business as usual,” said Brian Darling, a Republican strategist and former Senate aide.

Senate conservatives are attempting to take advantage of McConnell’s receding influence and the growing power of Trump as the inevitable GOP nominee for president to put pressure on Thune and Cornyn.

Over in the House, conservatives in the Freedom Caucus are criticizing that the GOP is not fulfilling its promises to use its majority in the chamber to bring fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets to Washington, The Hill reported.

But they face a high hurdle to overcome, since Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has endorsed the bipartisan government funding deal to avert the shutdown.