Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) believes there is a simple answer to the question of why House Democrats are more effective at working together than members of his conference: Republicans are just too principled.<\/p>\n
Democrats, Johnson told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt last week, \u201cmove in a herd\u201d and \u201cact like a union\u201d following their leader because there\u2019s no diversity of opinion causing them to stray \u2014 their groupthink could even be described as the behavior of \u201csocialists.\u201d Republicans, however, can\u2019t be forced to unite because they\u2019re \u201crugged individualists.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re deeply principled and philosophical and it\u2019s difficult to get us to move in tandem sometimes,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat\u2019s a blessing. I love that part \u2014 except when you have a one-vote margin.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s one way of putting it. What Johnson didn\u2019t articulate was how a rowdy bunch of flamethrowers on his right flank \u2014 roughly 15 members, many members of the vocal Freedom Caucus \u2014 has pretty much sabotaged any hope of a conservative legislative agenda this Congress. These hard-liners have refused to compromise on everything from immigration reform, to government spending to foreign aid for Ukraine, and in the process have yielded power to a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers.<\/p>\n
Rep. Blake D. Moore (R-Utah), who serves as the GOP conference vice chair, said Republicans would get more conservative wins landing on the president\u2019s desk if they weren\u2019t so self-defeating.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the part I wish every American can get. That by pretending to be super conservative, by taking down a rule and fighting the establishment \u2026 the outcome is, you have less conservative legislation. So that\u2019s okay for you individually. It\u2019s not better for the country,\u201d he said, referring to a procedural tactic governing floor debate known as a rule.<\/p>\n
This stubborn adherence to ideological purity is causing the hard-liners to lose leverage in a House where the GOP has just a two-vote majority. Their intransigence means that Johnson \u2014 though he risks his job by doing so \u2014 has continued to turn to Democrats to pass high-priority legislation to keep the government funded and send foreign aid to U.S. allies such as Ukraine and Israel.<\/p>\n
When Republicans return to Washington on Monday, they will continue to struggle to pass anything without Democratic help. Their inability to agree has made them appear publicly and privately chaotic, misunderstood and afraid they will lose the majority in November. It has led to some privately calling for more time at home in their districts, knowing little will probably get done the rest of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy recommendation is we stop trying to bend the policy for the year because there\u2019s really nothing we can do with this majority right now,\u201d one swing-district Republican lawmaker said. \u201cSo now the focus is on us keeping the majority and figuring our s\u2014 out internally as a family because we may keep the majority, but it may only still be by one to four seats. So we\u2019re going to have this problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
No one has been more vehemently opposed to Johnson\u2019s strategy than Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). The MAGA firebrand, along with Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.), continues to support the speaker\u2019s ouster through what\u2019s known as a motion to vacate. Others, such as freshman Rep. Elijah Crane (R-Ariz.), remain open to the idea of removing Johnson.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, this is so much bigger than me, or a motion to vacate or Speaker Mike Johnson,\u201d Crane said about his disillusion with the emerging House governing coalition. \u201cTo me this comes down to, are we going to try and save this country or are we just going to continue on with the Washington uniparty that continually sells out the American people?\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s foes failed to bring the motion to oust him before the House adjourned a week ago, with Greene arguing she wanted her colleagues to feel the outrage from their constituents. Greene tried to drum up criticism by asking followers on social media whether they \u201csupport Mike Johnson for Speaker,\u201d and Massie characterized Johnson\u2019s reliance on Democrats as \u201cunforgivable\u201d<\/p>\n
Given the threat looming over Johnson and their inability to compromise, Republicans will probably resort to passing noncontroversial legislation that doesn\u2019t rankle their conference, while also prioritizing possibly cutting federal funds to universities and piecing together an \u201celection integrity\u201d bill Johnson and former president Donald Trump floated earlier this month. (Voting by undocumented migrants is already illegal in the United States.)<\/p>\n
But Congress must reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration by May 11 and fund the government for the 2025 fiscal year while reauthorizing a farm bill by Sept. 30. Given how the far right\u2019s unrealistic demands to curtail spending plagued the last spending process, it\u2019s unlikely Republicans notch aggressively conservative wins this time around.<\/p>\n
Some more pragmatic Republicans argue their colleagues need to accept the reality and work under the confines of their slim majority, and a Democratic-controlled Senate and White House.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get to serve with a lot of great people. I\u2019m a little surprised with how naive people are being right now. I mean, the reality is the Democrats are in control of the Senate, the Republicans in control of the House,\u201d said Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), who chairs the conservative but governing-focused Main Street Caucus. \u201cSo anything that we were ever going to get done was going to be a work product that was going to require good people on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hard-liners see it much differently.<\/p>\n
They argue it\u2019s their colleagues\u2019 willingness to compromise that will end with them in the minority. Republicans should use the reins of the majority more forcefully, they say, to aggressively incorporate \u201cAmerica First\u201d promises to voters on the campaign trail, echoing Trump, the presumptive 2024 presidential nominee. Those promises include significantly curtailing spending and clamping down on migrants at the southern border. They prefer to protest, shut down the government and risk the GOP majority if Washington isn\u2019t entirely overhauled.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere we go again, we\u2019re negotiating with the Senate and the Democrats to what will seamlessly continue this slide down into the abyss of greater fiscal crisis and \u2018America last\u2019 policies,\u201d championed by President Biden and congressional Democratic leaders, said Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.).<\/p>\n
Stuck in the middle is Johnson, who has endlessly sought to appease all corners. Plucked from obscurity and chosen to lead the House six months ago because he had no enemies, the speaker has now rankled everyone. The far right accuses Johnson of stripping his ultraconservative credentials to embrace bipartisan policies, while the governing coalition is frustrated its taken the speaker too long to realize the hard-liners can never be won over.<\/p>\n
Rep. Juan Ciscomani (Ariz.), a swing-district Republican who also belongs to the Main Street Caucus, echoed many governing colleagues who argue their first priority, \u201cas a Republican conference is to pass legislation with Republican support.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen that doesn\u2019t happen,\u201d he said, \u201cThen the option is to either give up and walk away or look for a way to not get the full win that we were hoping for, but get a win. \u2026 And that\u2019s when it makes sense to partner with Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson has tried to incorporate the far right into discussions, but the group has often repelled his asks. When Republicans went to the Texas-Mexico border earlier this year, members of the Freedom Caucus rented their own bus so as not to mingle with the larger group.<\/p>\n
And more recently when Johnson asked members to get briefed ahead of voting to reauthorize a section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, those hard-liners held their own separate briefing, according to multiple Republicans familiar with the events, who like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private happenings.<\/p>\n
Members of the far right consider Johnson a weak speaker, viewing him as having been steamrolled by Democrats rather than accepting incremental conservative wins. They would prefer moving ultraconservative legislation with no chance of passing the Senate or being signed into law, and recessing the House no matter the consequences such as a potential government shutdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve told the speaker to his face, and I say it again, the American people, they\u2019re watching what we do. And they know something, if you surrender, you lose every time,\u201d Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) said before 101 Republicans and 185 Democrats passed the government funding bill in March. \u201cBut doggone it, fight! This is capitulation. This is surrender.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson and Republican appropriators negotiated the spending deal, but they were stuck following parameters agreed to by Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) when they agreed last year to raise the debt ceiling by capping spending for two years at roughly $1.7 trillion.<\/p>\n
Eleven far-right Republicans revolted against that deal by breaking a two-decade tradition that the majority allows floor debate even though lawmakers might oppose final passage. To end the blockade, McCarthy directed the House Appropriations Committee to cut $3 billion from the spending agreement, which resulted in difficult votes for vulnerable Republicans.<\/p>\n
But McCarthy and hard-liners could never agree once the spending bills got to the floor and even rejected including a conservative border security bill, known as H.R. 2, days before the government was set to shut down. Left with few options, McCarthy chose to work with Democrats and keep the government open using a process known as suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds majority. He became the first speaker removed from office three days later.<\/p>\n
Johnson has had to consistently rely on the same tactic.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, members of the Freedom Caucus were pushing Johnson to pass a short-term government funding bill that included their border security bill, the exact proposal they rejected months earlier.<\/p>\n
Good acknowledged he was \u201cagainst\u201d the agreement \u201cthen, but now we\u2019re at a different position. You recalibrate sometimes. You fight the battle you\u2019re in, not the battle you wish you were in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Far-right Republicans have since voted against Johnson\u2019s spending package, joined with far-left liberals to obstruct a spy agency surveillance reauthorization, and joined a majority of conservatives in opposing Ukraine aid, all while admonishing their GOP colleagues who backed all the measures as traitors to the base.<\/p>\n
Over the past year, far-right members have blocked debate seven times on the House floor.<\/p>\n
Most recently three hard-liners went a step further and blocked consideration of a border security bill that largely included H.R. 2 from even reaching the House floor to protest Johnson\u2019s Ukraine strategy. The border bill could have passed the House by a simple majority, but the blockade forced Johnson to require a two-thirds majority. It failed.<\/p>\n
So far, there have been no repercussions for Republicans who defy leadership and it doesn\u2019t sound like any are coming soon. Some would like to see the obstructionist Republicans removed from the Rules Committee, for instance.<\/p>\n
In the Hewitt interview, Johnson acknowledged it\u2019s \u201ca very delicate balance\u201d in a slim majority to make such decisions because \u201cthere are reactions and reverberations from the actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I start taking people off committees right now, it\u2019s likely that I cause more problems than I solve,\u201d he said in a statement that made clear the confines in which the conference must work under until the next election.<\/p>\n
Pragmatic Republicans believe that far-right colleagues oppose legislation out of fear of Trump\u2019s powerful and influential base. During a meeting last year between the chairs of the House GOP\u2019s five ideological families, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) admitted as much, according to four people present: that it was easier for some far-right members to vote against bills to avoid the backlash at home. Meanwhile, far-right members believe the governing coalition also votes out of fear of not being reelected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always a reason: the majority is too thin, \u2018Oh I\u2019d be there with you if I could wave my magic wand, we\u2019ve got elections this year.\u2019 \u2026 There is always an excuse for Republicans to fail,\u201d Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) said at a news conference last month, referring to colleagues who don\u2019t want to push a forceful conservative agenda. \u201cThey\u2019re the ones running in fear rather than leading.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both the hard-liners and the governing wing want Republicans to grow their majority \u2014 but with members like themselves. It\u2019s why the fight has spilled onto the campaign trail as Republicans stump against their own colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got to get people that are willing to cut spending and address the border, and you got to have the courage to do it,\u201d said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who has endorsed a challenger running against a colleague in the South Carolina delegation. \u201cI\u2019d say the rationale for why we [fight] is if you don\u2019t like where the country is now as opposed to four years ago, as opposed to anytime in history, you will understand the seriousness of where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leigh Ann Caldwell contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) believes there is a simple answer to the question of why House Democrats are more effective at working together than members of his conference: Republicans are just too principled. Democrats, Johnson told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt last week, \u201cmove in a herd\u201d and \u201cact like a union\u201d following their leader […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}