“We’ll cross that bridge” when we get there, Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) said when asked on Breitbart News Daily if he will support Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in the speakership vote next year.
Tiffany made the remark just days after the unveiling of a monstrous spending bill largely viewed as an abject failure of Johnson’s leadership.
The continuing resolution (CR) has come under fire for a variety of the discoveries found in the 1,547-page measure, which includes a pay raise for Congress as well as a provision allowing members of Congress to opt out of Obamacare.
Tiffany, while unhappy with the deal, added some context to the uphill battle Johnson faced in negotiating the measure.
“A little bit in defense of the speaker. He’s got a very narrow majority, and there’s a couple conservative Republicans that are like, ‘No, I don’t vote for continuing resolutions in any way.’ So if he doesn’t have the vote count, then he’s forced” to go to the Democrats, he explained, noting that it only takes a few of those people with that position to force Johnson to go to the Democrats, who always inject more spending.
“When you have to go to the Democrats — which is why you should never have to do that, it doesn’t matter whether you’re in the United States Congress or a state legislature — when you go to the Democrats, they are going to extract more spending from you,” the House Freedom Caucus member explained.
He said both sides can be blamed for loading the bill up with stuff, but it is primarily the Democrats at fault.
“It’s getting loaded up by members on both sides now, primarily the Democrats. But when people find an opportunity, they’re going to try to throw their pet project on there. Yes, I mean, look, look at the stuff that’s in there that, you know, there’s disaster related spending, $110 billion and it’s unpaid for. I mean, we shouldn’t be doing that,” he said.
“I mean, we as conservatives, like in the Freedom Caucus, we’re like, you gotta pay for it,” he continued.
However, Tiffany said that at the end of the day it is crucial that people understand how they got into this position in the first place.
“How did we get there? By not doing the budgeting process. By not going through all 12 appropriations bills and getting them done,” he said, hoping for a clean continuing resolution rather than “what really looks like an omnibus bill with 1,500 pages.”
When asked if he will support Johnson in the speakership vote next year, Tiffany did not offer a definitive answer.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to January 3. I mean, this does create a problem for the Speaker,” Tiffany said. “There’s no doubt about it. Is this the leadership that we’re going to have?
“So, I mean, we’ll decide that question after Christmas. We’ve got to get this done first.”
LISTEN:
Breitbart · Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) – December 19, 2024Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the first to publicly announce that he will not support Johnson for the Speakership in January.
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