GOP lawmaker says Johnson made spending fight ‘way too complicated’

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said on Sunday that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) made the government funding spending battle “way too complicated.”

“I think he made it way too complicated,” McClintock said Sunday on NewsNation’s “The Hill.”

The California Republican argued Johnson likes to have people “beat him up from time to time” but doesn’t think it is necessary under a second White House term under President-elect Trump.

Johnson was forced to siffle through a number of proposals during a stretch of several uncertain days. Many lawmakers believed Congress was headed toward an inevitable government shutdown after Trump and other GOP allies tanked the first draft.

McClintock said Johnson was making it too difficult on himself and argued he should have done what Trump wanted from the start.

“We are on the same team as Donald Trump. We’re on the same page as Donald Trump,” he argued.

“Tell us what you need, and we’ll bend over backwards to get it for you,” McClintock said of Trump.

Johnson's future appears increasingly uncertain as some House Republican lawmakers suggested over the last week that they questioned whether or not to support him for Speaker again. The House is set to vote on Johnson’s fate on Jan. 3 when the new Congress is sworn-in.

“Anybody who wants it, obviously isn’t in his right mind,” McClintock said.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.