House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) on Thursday faced the most serious threat to his position since 163 Democratic lawmakers voted to save the gavel in May.
Johnson's 1,547-page year-end spending deal, released Tuesday night after a days-long deadline, has been criticized by Republicans of all ideological stripes for its content and Johnson's mishandling of the negotiations and rollout. The bill failed in less than 24 hours because of opposition to the bill.
Conservatives, moderates, staunch rank-and-file Republicans, and even committee chairs slammed the bill as giving too much to Democrats.
President-elect Donald Trump and soon-to-be Vice President J.D. Vance issued a statement Thursday afternoon urging Republicans to pursue a clean continuance resolution with only a top-up that addresses the debt ceiling.
Their statement denouncing Johnson's deal as detrimental to President Trump's policies was a central stake in the rapidly unraveling deal, but it is clear that the well-funded Elon Musk had already come under fire after spending the day attacking the bill and warning Republicans to oppose it. facing major challenges.
The future path of the government's plan is unclear. But after his plans fell apart, Johnson's continued leadership within House Republicans is shaky at best.
Minutes after Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance released a statement denying the deal, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) told Breitbart News on Wednesday that Mr. Johnson was not up for re-election. , if I were a bettor, I'd say the odds are probably the same.”
The presidential election will be held on January 3, 2025, the first day of the new parliament.
Johnson may not make it until then.
One of Mr. Johnson's chief critics, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), has already vowed to oppose him.
Massey: “I’ll vote for someone else.” saidaccording to Politico. “I have a few things on my mind. I'm not going to say anything yet.”
Others are rumored to be joining him, and the company could go public as early as Thursday.
If Mr. Johnson is revealed to be a lame-duck speaker, all bets are off on what House Republicans will do to get the government funding bill across the finish line and who will be in charge of negotiating it.
Mr. Johnson has weathered criticism, mostly from conservatives, during his 14-month term as head of the House Republican conference. Not this time.
During his brief tenure as speaker, Johnson negotiated a much-maligned spending deal with Democrats and backed out of his oft-repeated promise to pass tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine without passing border security provisions. He betrayed and extended FISA reauthorization after casting the deciding vote. It would override an amendment that would ban warrantless surveillance of American citizens. The amendment had been championed by Mr. Johnson for years before a sudden change of heart and intense lobbying from intelligence agencies hated by Mr. Trump and his allies.
Candidate Trump at the time was relatively uninvolved in these battles. But Mr. Johnson's rebuttal to his contract on Wednesday marks a new phase in a relationship that Mr. Johnson has been passionate about (if awkward).
Widespread dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's deal – his last chance to claim the chair's extension to the incoming Trump administration – signals that his standing within the ranks has reached a new low.
Mr. Johnson's ascendancy after the fall of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and the failure of several other candidates to garner a decisive level of support is partly due to his relative This was due to popularity. He made no enemies during his time in the shadows.
But now, as Republicans gear up for a two-year chance to take control of the White House, the Senate, and a slim majority in the House, many are asking, “What exactly will Mr. Johnson bring to the table?” I have doubts.
Johnson continues to be personally liked throughout his press conferences. But the former backbencher has the sophisticated fundraising experience that most previous speakers have leveraged to gain and maintain their positions, as well as the high-stakes deals with far more experienced Democrats. He came to the leadership position without any experience negotiating or managing large-scale politics, legislation, communications, or fundraising. This is a necessary operation for the speaker.
After a year in the driver's seat, Republicans are questioning whether he has developed into the right person for the job.
“He doesn't have his eye on the ball,” Rep. Eric Burleson (R-Missouri) told Breitbart News on Tuesday night, amid mounting Republican dissatisfaction with Johnson's deal. “He's sending his staff to negotiate when they should be involved.”
Breitbart has reported on Johnson's staff throughout his tenure. His staffing issues include multiple high-level resignations. But perhaps most worryingly, the hastily assembled staff includes a former lobbyist as a top policy adviser, as well as key staff from the intelligence community, as well as Republican groups after supporting Trump. Some staff members have also been accused of attacking people.
Mr. Burlison argued that Mr. Johnson should personally engage in high-level deal negotiations, rather than sending his staff to work.
“If I give a kid $100 and say, “Buy your mom a Christmas present,'' [they’re] “You probably won't come back with the best gift at the best value,” he said, criticizing the leadership model Johnson adopted.
“They don't want to get involved themselves. They let their staff come in and this is the result,” he added. “So we should swallow this, but I'm not going to swallow it.”
Republican senators also took the unusual step of attacking Johnson's leadership.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tweeted Wednesday morning before the deal broke down, saying, “I would have liked to see @SpeakerJohnson grow a spine, but this bill full of pork shows he's weak. It shows that he is a weak man.”
“The debt will continue to rise. The dollar will eventually collapse. The Democrats are ignorant and the big government Republicans are complicit. It's a sad day for America.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) told Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlowe on Wednesday that the rushed process was “a complete clown show” and accused Johnson of repeatedly failing to fulfill his duties. I blamed him for that.
“I'm tired of it myself, and I think the American people are tired of it, too,” he said. “They want people who walk their talk. Republicans have been saying for years that they're not going to play these games, they're not going to do these kinds of things, and Mike Johnson just keeps going. ”
Mr. Johnson's spending deal with Democrats includes pay increases for members of Congress and an opt-out of Obamacare, and the more than 1,500 pages include a myriad of perks for Democrats and lobbyists, as well as protections that protect Congress from outside scrutiny. It even includes provisions to protect it.
Johnson promised in September not to pass a lame-duck Christmas omnibus bill, but MPs have been denouncing it throughout the conference as an omnibus by another name.
“This isn't an omnibus, is it?” he said Tuesday. “This is a small CR and we had to add something out of our control. These are not man-made disasters. These are facts and the federal government has an appropriate role to play.”
However, less than 100 of the bill's 1,547 pages address spending, agricultural and disaster relief, even though Prime Minister Johnson has characterized the bill as a continuing resolution.
The rushed timeline, which is said to have been designed to pass the bill before lawmakers and the public know its contents, has Republicans worried, too.
We've seen this story play out in previous Republican speeches, but former Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan have been more successful in standing up to Democratic demands.
The conference is not short of other options for chair, including someone who ran for the position last year but was unsuccessful. Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a favorite of President Trump, remains the most popular House Republican in the nation, and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) is a favorite of Trump's former Republican Since then, he has worked wisely to build a warm relationship with President Trump. Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) will also almost certainly seek the gavel.
It is unlikely that any other candidate will take over the Speaker's position until Mr Johnson falls.
But after 14 months with no notable results, reaching a low point and with President Trump preparing an aggressive legislative agenda for next year, Republicans are likely to want more than just a trustee as speaker. .
As the chaos of the past few days has made clear, anything can happen, and when it happens, it happens quickly. And the affable but even-keeled Johnson will likely try to make a comeback.
Bradley Jay is Breitbart News' Capitol Hill correspondent. Follow him on X/Twitter. @BradleyAJay.
