Key House Republican urges Johnson to 'force some hard lines' on budget talks

Arizona Republican Rep. Eli Crane this week urged House Speaker Mike Johnson and his fellow House Republicans to hold firm amid budget negotiations and "force some hard lines" in demanding tangible concessions from Democrats.

"Now, we need to, we need to force some hard lines, it's not going to be comfortable. Some of us are trying to encourage speaker Johnson to, you know, to take some of the hard lines that we believe that this country needs," he said on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast. "And so I'm hoping that he's going to be willing to do that. But at the end of the day, you know, I can't force speaker Johnson, or quite frankly, any other member of this house to do anything they don't want to do."

He further lamented that Johnson had thus far struggled to definitely move for major concessions in the process, saying "I think that we wanted to definitely give Speaker Johnson, you know, time to get his feet underneath him get his get his team situated. And, you know, kind of figure things out."

"But I would definitely say that there is some disappointment with some of the decisions that we've seen him make," Crane continued, "I think the American public understands where this country is that how dire the situation is. And, you know, we need, we need courage right?"

Johnson on Sunday announced a topline spending agreement with Democrats that attracted the ire of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Crane, for his part, indicated he would not support that deal.

"It doesn't cut enough money. It doesn't deal with the border," he said. "Like I said, the power of the purse is the biggest leverage we have up here. It's the biggest tool we have. I will absolutely be a no."

"They need our money, we're about, you know, we're getting ready to run out of money. And that's pretty constant up there. So if you're not willing to use that, to get what the American people need, and if you're not willing to deal with shut down politics up here, which is what, you know, the wise and crafty establishment always forces us into, then you're really not that that serious about shoring up the border," Crane insisted.

"We almost never play to win. And that's a problem," Crane lamented. "I'm going to continue to push, you know that we cut federal spending significantly, and that we get our border secured. And if that means that we have to shut down the government, I'm okay with that... I don't care if you get in a hole in your personal life, in your business that is as deep as the hole that we're in nationally with a $34 trillion national debt. Okay. There's no way you get out of that where it's where it's roses."

"I'm willing to deal with those uncomfortable situations. I'm willing to be called the names, you know, whatever it's going to take to put this country back on the right path and even hold the hard line and tell Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden, 'no, we're not doing that anymore,'" the Arizona Republican declared. "And if you want to, you know, if you want to make sure if you want to shut down the country because you're not willing to shut our border down, we'll engage in that PR fight with you all day long. And I think we win that because I've seen the polling from the American people. I've seen the disgust from the American people. I've seen the disbelief from the American people that we would allow that in a country. And we would continue to spend $200 billion a month more than we actually have. It's, it's unbelievable."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.