Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) lashed out at Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) Friday morning, saying he "dragged" President-elect Trump into conversations about the spending bill as the threat of a government shutdown looms.
“It’s an example of failure of leadership of Speaker Johnson,” Spartz told Fox Business's Maria Bartiromo. “Speaker Johnson dragged President Trump into this circus."
"He completely mishandled it. He didn’t work with Republicans," she added.
Her critique comes after Trump weighed in on the initial bipartisan spending bill, pushing for a debt ceiling extension — or for it to be eliminated — in order to receive his blessing on the proposal. A second iteration of the bill included a debt limit hike, but it was ultimately rejected.
Spartz was one of 38 House Republicans who voted against the Trump-backed package.
“Speaker Johnson doesn’t talk to House Republicans most of the time," she said in the interview Friday. "It’s almost disrespectful, where members, at the last second, have a 1,500-page bill and they expect them all to vote [a certain way]."
The latest version of the spending proposal will include three separate bills addressing government funding, disaster relief and the allocation of farm assistance. Notably, this version does not include Trump’s request to increase the debt ceiling.
The Indiana Republican announced earlier this month that she would not sit on any committee or caucus with GOP leadership but focus her time on furthering the mission of cutting government spending.
She also praised the president-elect's newly created "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE). The advisory committee, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, has outlined goals of reducing the size of government and slashing $2 trillion in spending.
Musk has also weighed in on the spending fight, unleashing a flood of misinformation on his social platform X about the stopgap bill that would have funded government through March. He, along with other Trump allies, have been credited with helping to torpedo the original stopgap bill.
Lawmakers are expected to vote on the latest bill Friday, as government funding is set to lapse at midnight.
