House Freedom Caucus threatens to withhold votes on spending bills

House conservatives, increasingly frustrated they’re getting shut out of the spending debate on Capitol Hill, now are reaching for relevance by saying they could withhold their votes unless they begin to see wins for their priorities.

Some leaders of the House Freedom Caucus say they want a fight, now, over funding for President Trump’s border wall. Other conservatives are dialing back expectations, saying one of their hopes is to head off a spending binge in a lame-duck session of Congress.

It remains to be seen whether they’ll have any leverage as Republican and Democratic leaders write the remaining bills needed to keep the government open after the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year.

Rep. Jim Jordan said the border wall is the “single biggest promise” the American people remember from the 2016 campaign — and that he wants to dig in to get it done “as soon as possible.”

“I’d prefer we actually do what we said we were going to do now,” said Mr. Jordan, Ohio Republican. “But I made that point a week ago, so it doesn’t look like that’s where leadership wants to go.”