Just over five months ago, Mike Johnson declared himself a “wartime speaker.”
He said he was prepared to take on the Republican factions who wanted to oust him. And for a moment, it seemed like Johnson had won the war, beating back the 11 rebels who tried to strip him of his gavel when he put Ukraine funding on the House floor. (Democrats came to Johnson’s rescue and refused to let him lose his speakership over Ukraine aid.)
But as Johnson searches for the votes on a doomed government funding bill, his speakership is once again under siege — and he’s looking more embattled than ever before.
It’s not that Johnson is going to lose his gavel this Congress. The reality is there are so few legislative days left in the term that an ouster would be meaningless anyway. But he is in trouble next Congress, assuming Republicans hang on to the majority and Johnson even tries to be speaker again.
Basically, Johnson has two problems: government funding now, and maintaining the speakership later. But both issues are related. To hear Johnson’s Republican colleagues tell it, the speaker’s future is riding on his ability to shepherd the House GOP through this latest impossible spending fight. He has to avoid a government shutdown and extract Democratic concessions and keep Donald Trump on his side.
The problem is there is almost no possible way to achieve all of those objectives. Armed with only less bad options, he can order — at most — two dishes. And if that’s the case, it’s Johnson who might be on the menu.
MORE:
www.notus.org/congress/cooked-inside-mike-johnsons-two-big-problems
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