Freedom Caucus Enraged With Senate, but Mike Johnson Is Safe

The hardline conservative faction of the House of Representatives is frustrated with the Senate, which has brushed aside House legislation reforming federal surveillance and banning the creation of a central bank digital currency.

Going forward, these House Republicans are concerned the Senate may also choose to ignore their ambitious farm legislation, all while the SAVE America Act—which would require proof of citizenship and photo identification in federal elections—has lost momentum in the Senate.

“The agenda of the American people is suffering and lagging behind and the Senate, unfortunately, is just responsible for that,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the House Freedom Caucus said Thursday.

However, House hardliners are not taking their anger out on Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., whose standing appears to have strengthened with the conservative faction.

Historically, the head of the party in the House is the punching bag on which the rank-and-file take out their frustrations.

Instead, these conservatives are declaring a war of words against the Senate, arguing that the House has proven its competence.

“The discord is not over here” in the House, Perry said. “The discord is between the two bodies.”

It was a marathon week for the speaker, who helped end the 75-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, pass a massive new “farm bill” to score wins with farmers ahead of midterms, extend an expiring federal spy power, and set up a process which will inject funding into immigration enforcement.

The Senate Gets Its Way

But in a few instances, the Senate simply bossed around the House.

The House overcame major disagreements to pass a three-year reformed extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). 

House privacy hawks, who argued the surveillance program has been abused to spy on American citizens, won reforms and advanced a ban on the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), which Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, has called a “dystopian surveillance tool.”

But the Senate refused to consider this framework, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., called “dead on arrival” in his chamber.

“They won’t even put it on the freaking floor for a debate,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, ranted Thursday.

Instead, the Senate sent the House a 45-day clean extension of the program to buy time for further negotiations, which the House passed.

Gathered outside the Capitol, members of the House Freedom Caucus expressed to reporters their displeasure with the Senate’s lack of interest in passing House bills.

Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, told reporters he would fight for the House’s work, including if the Senate attempts to advance its own farm bill that ignores House priorities.

“I am positive,” he said. “The [digital currency ban] is still alive. We’ve got FISA now still alive… Let’s just push on. The Senate will respond to the people if they push hard enough.”

Johnson’s Conservative Backing

On Friday, several of these hard-liners spoke in defense of the speaker.

The Speaker has a 3 seat margin, yet we’ve passed tax cuts, welfare reform, cut green scam subsidies, SAVE America, Farm bill with some reforms, Flat discretionary spending, FISA with reforms & a CBDC ban,” Roy said on X in defense of Johnson’s record.

“Speaker Mike Johnson entered the week with the liberal media gloating about how he could never deliver on the three major issues the House had to deal with this week — FISA, funding our border, and our much-needed Farm Bill,” wrote House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris on X, adding that he “delivered all three of these.”