House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) told reporters last week that Democrats’ demands were a “gross separation of powers violation and a terrible precedent for Congress to engage in.”
“That’s a non starter for us, and the Democrats know that, so it looks like they’re in a posture right now where they’re making individual appropriations bills almost impossible,” Johnson said. “I’m really hopeful that they’ll back off those outrageous demands because it’s unprecedented and I think probably unconstitutional, and it’s not anything we’ll be a part of.”
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) put it more diplomatically.
“As I remind my Democrat friends,” he said, “a Republican Senate and Republican House aren’t going to limit the Republican president, particularly a president that has to sign the bill.”