Governing has returned to Washington, D.C. and House Republicans are not happy.
After five years of stalemate, Republicans in Congress and the White House have reached a new budget deal raising the debt limit through March of 2017 and avoiding a government shutdown.
"I think this process stinks. This is not the way to do the people's business," House GOP savior Paul Ryan told reporters on the eve of his Speaker nomination, complaining of the closed door process. The likely next House Speaker said he wanted to “see what it looks like on paper” before coming to a conclusion but defended the proposal as a "good deal" all things considered.
CNN reports that rural Republicans on the agriculture committee are upset with cuts to the crop insurance program, threatening to vote against the deal if the cuts are not removed.
North Carolina House Freedom Caucus member and longtime Boehner detractor Mark Meadows called on all candidates for Speaker to oppose the deal:
Leadership's determination to ram through this legislation days before we reach the debt limit, with zero input from rank and file Members of Congress, demonstrates precisely what is wrong with Washington, D.C.
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Anyone who supports this legislation is complicit in supporting “the way things are” in Washington. We are at an important crossroads in the House of Representatives. We have an opportunity to bring about real reform and fundamentally change the broken system in place on Capitol Hill. Therefore I call on all candidates running for Speaker of the House to oppose this legislation and go on record showing they do not support this approach to governing.
Kentucky Republican and outspoken Paul Ryan critic Rep. Thomas Massie sounded resigned to the prospects of another loss for House conservatives. "I mean I don't think there's anything you can do at this point ... We can't stop it. He's in league with the Democrats," he said, referring to Speaker Boehner.
But Rep. John Fleming, R-La., seemingly less dejected, said he plans to "whip against it."
The National Review has blasted the deal as "awful" and having "no pretense of fiscal responsibility whatsoever."
The conservative Washington Examiner decried the bipartisan agreement as "GOP surrender":
[S]ometimes there's a need to compromise and recognize the art of the possible. But this isn't compromise. This is utter capitulation.
Boehner said this deal is intended to "clean out the barn." He hopes to go out as a martyr for the establishment, clearing the decks for likely incoming speaker Rep. Paul Ryan and essentially swearing off any combat with Obama or Senate Democrats during the 2016 elections. In reality, this is a betrayal of everything Republicans ran on in 2010 — fittingly negotiated behind closed doors and rammed down members' throats.
Meanwhile, conservatives on Twitter lashed out against the budget deal, with many using the hashtag #ZombieBudget:
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