Rep. Spartz of Louisiana links vote on Speaker Johnson to commitment on spending

Mark Schoeff Jr., CQ-Roll Call on Jan 2, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Rep. Victoria Spartz, one of a handful of House Republicans who could deny Speaker Mike Johnson the gavel in the new Congress on Friday, is seeking changes to the budget process before she decides how she will vote.

Johnson, R-La., has to win a majority of the votes cast for a named candidate. If two Republicans vote for someone else and all the Democrats do too, he would fall short of the votes needed to remain speaker in the 119th Congress. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has already indicated he plans to oppose Johnson. Several other Republicans are on the fence, including Spartz.

Spartz, R-Ind., in a statement Monday, called for the next speaker to “COMMIT PUBLICLY” to create “temporary structures in the House” for authorizations, reconciliation offset policies and spending audits.

“Congress has abandoned its constitutional duty to the American people to properly oversee the spending of their hard-earned money paid as taxes,” Spartz said. “Our next speaker must show courageous leadership to get our country back on track before this ‘Titanic’ strikes an iceberg at any moment. We must have a vision and a concrete plan to deliver on President Trump’s agenda for the American people, which I have not seen from our current speaker despite countless discussions and public promises.”

She was among the potential dissenters who met with Johnson on Thursday.

Spartz and other budget hawks are “definitely serious” about using their leverage in determining who is speaker to elevate their concerns about federal spending, said Bill Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

“I do believe they will have made a very strong point, even if Johnson does survive and continues to be speaker,” said Hoagland, a longtime GOP staff director on the Senate Budget Committee. “The proof in the pudding will come when they have to pass a budget resolution.”

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said Spartz’s effort to secure a budget reduction promise from the next House leader is constructive.

“Rep. Spartz is exactly right to ask for a commitment that the party will do more to improve the budget process and find savings as offsets and a means to reduce the debt,” MacGuineas wrote in an email. “Last time President Trump was in office with a majority in both Houses, the debt trajectory went up not down — they need to do the opposite this time around.”

Spartz has left the details about achieving her goal a bit fuzzy. Even if Johnson were to make the public commitments Spartz is asking for, his thin majority could force him to rely on Democrats to pass legislation that is controversial among Republicans, including to raise or suspend the debt limit.

Hoagland pointed out that there are already procedures for spending audits, and existing congressional structures, such as authorizing committees, to set policy before spending is appropriated.

“If she’s concerned about spending absent authorization, that’s fair,” Hoagland said.

There was $516 billion in spending on unauthorized programs in fiscal 2024, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Hoagland said he agrees with Spartz that spending in reconciliation bills needs to be offset.

“It’s unclear to me whether she’s also applying the offsets to the need to pay for tax cuts,” Hoagland said.

The budget resolution, which would include reconciliation instructions for how to handle new spending, could be the first indicator of the influence of lawmakers with budget concerns.

“If it doesn’t show that spending offset, I expect [Spartz] and other budget hawks would not vote for the budget resolution,” Hoagland said. “That will make it difficult for the speaker to [pass] the policies the incoming President Trump wants to implement quickly.”

‘Good budgeteers’

Spartz, who was elected to the House in 2020, has practiced what she preaches on the budget.

She has consistently voted against raising the debt limit. She isn’t shown in earmark lists released by House appropriators related to fiscal 2025 spending. She opposed bills during the Biden administration that came with big price tags, such as a COVID-19 recovery plan, an infrastructure measure and a bill to catalyze microchip manufacturing in the United States.

Spartz also recently voted against a bill that would increase Social Security payments for some public sector workers. The Senate cleared the bill on Dec. 21 and President Joe Biden is expected to sign it.

“That would put her in the litany of good budgeteers,” Hoagland said.

Spartz has a penchant for using moments such as selecting a House speaker to promote deficit reduction.

“Spartz has a relatively impressive fiscal record and generally tries to use each action forcing moment to push for meaningful fiscal reforms such as a commission and other oversight improvements,” MacGuineas said.