Funding fiasco could spell the end of House speaker's rocky reign
Mike Johnson's time as House speaker could be coming to an unceremonious end.
House Republicans and their real leader, Donald Trump, are furious with Johnson over the government funding mess that unfolded last week. Multibillionaire Elon Musk and Trump scuttled a deal Johnson made with Democrats to fund the government for three months, threatening a government shutdown just before the holidays.
The ultimate deal that was passed barely differed from the initial legislation—only it slashed money for childhood cancer research and did not include a provision raising the debt ceiling that Trump hypocritically demanded.
Politico reported on Monday:
Not only is Trump unhappy with the funding deal, he’s unhappy with Johnson, too. He’s unhappy that he didn’t get the debt ceiling hike he made clear he wanted. He felt blindsided by the initial deal Johnson struck with Democrats. And, in the end, he was unimpressed with the entire chaotic process, which left the incoming administration questioning whether Johnson is capable of managing an even thinner majority next year.
Now, discussion is picking up about whether to dispose of the Louisiana Republican and replace him with a new speaker when the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025.
With a slim two-seat GOP majority, Johnson can afford to lose just one vote if he wants to remain speaker.
But at least three Republicans have already said they are not committing to voting for Johnson for speaker, and one has said he will actively support someone else.
“Since President Trump’s historic election to bring down spending, deficits, and inflation, the ‘Republican’-led House has INITIATED $300 billion in unpaid for new spending, without even ATTEMPTING offsets to prevent skyrocketing the deficit and debt. Future generations deserve better,” Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland wrote in a post on X on Monday. “I am now undecided on what House leadership should look like in the 119th Congress.”
On Friday, just hours before the government was set to shut down, GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York expressed frustration with Johnson over his “unacceptable” lack of communication.
"I don't know what's going on and really that's part of the problem,” Malliotakis told reporters on Capitol Hill. “The fact that there is zero communication from leadership to the membership, it’s very frustrating. Something should change before Jan. 3 here."
Axios reported that fellow GOP Reps. Tim Burchett, Victoria Spartz, Andy Biggs, Troy Nehls, and Josh Brecheen are also undecided on who to vote for.
And Rep. Thomas Massie is a firm no.
"I don't plan to enter it as a negotiation. I plan to just not vote for him,” the Republican from Kentucky told CNN, saying there is nothing Johnson can do to earn his vote.
Democrats, meanwhile, are not going to bail Johnson out.
" There will be no Democrats available to save him, or the extreme MAGA Republicans from themselves,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on MSNBC on Sunday, adding that Johnson’s job is at “risk.”
It's unclear who, if anyone, will challenge Johnson for the speaker role.
Republicans have floated Musk as a possible speaker—which would be a lot for Musk to take on as he has never been a legislator and already has a big job as Trump’s co-president.
But even if there is no one challenging him for the job, if just two Republicans hold firm against voting for Johnson, then there will be no winner and the House will have to keep voting until someone can amass a majority of votes. In 2023, it took 15 rounds of voting for Kevin McCarthy to win the gavel. And in October 2023, the House was in a state of paralysis for 22 days after now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz ousted McCarthy from the role without any plan of who to replace him with—a chaotic mess that ended with Johnson rising from relative obscurity to become speaker.
If Republicans can't coalesce around someone on Jan. 3, when the new Congress is set to be sworn in, the House could devolve into chaos. The legislative body is powerless without a speaker, and if Republicans don't figure it out by Jan. 6, then the House can't call a joint session to certify Trump's 2024 win.
Politico reported:
Congress is legally required to convene on Jan. 6 to certify the election results. But without a speaker, the House won’t be able to establish rules governing how it operates. And members who would need to vote on any successful objection can’t be sworn in until after those rules are adopted.
No one really knows if Republican chatter about Johnson’s future is just bellyaching or real grievance.
But either way, the chaos within the GOP ranks is not a good sign for the party’s ability to govern next year.