House finally does its job and passes a bill to fund the government

Five months and one week into this fiscal year, the House has finally passed legislation to fund roughly half of the government. After months of chaos that featured the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and delay after delay created by the Freedom Caucus, the package is a loss for both new Speaker Mike Johnson and the extremist House members.

Johnson came into the job knowing that McCarthy was booted over the agreement he reached with President Joe Biden last spring on funding for the year. Johnson has had the threat of a challenge to his leadership hanging over him for the whole of his short tenure. While the new speaker tried to dance to the extremists’ tune like McCarthy did, he–and they—have had to accept reality and swallow it: The Freedom Caucus’ fervent wish to shut the government down and/or force their extremist policies on the nation has been thwarted again.

For now, the government will stay open (at least partially) at roughly 2023 spending levels. The policy fights will continue over the remaining six funding bills until the March 22 deadline for passing them, but House Republicans have essentially lost.