Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is likely hoping that this week goes better for him than last week, when one of the senior leaders in his caucus called him a “political novice” and some of the usual suspects among the GOP’s far-right caucus mounted a brief insurrection. But with a major vote coming up that nobody in the House seems thrilled about, or prepared for, the speaker doesn’t have much reason to be hopeful of even clearing that low a bar.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, who is running for governor of New York, is becoming the figurehead of a growing frustration with Johnson’s speakership — despite being a member of the caucus’s senior leadership. “He certainly wouldn’t have the votes to be speaker if there was a roll-call vote tomorrow,” Stefanik told The Wall Street Journal last Tuesday. “I believe that the majority of Republicans would vote for new leadership. It’s that widespread.”
She also compared him — unfavorably! — to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, whose ejection from that role cleared the way for Johnson’s ascent.
It was one of several public volleys she threw Johnson’s way as she worked to re-insert a MAGA-coded provision in the annual defense authorization bill. The language that had been stripped out requires the FBI to notify Congress if it opens a counterintelligence investigation against a political candidate, much like the one the bureau opened against Trump back in 2016 over concerns about his campaign’s ties to Russia. When Johnson claimed that Stefanik had jumped on X before coming to him, she followed up with another post: “Just more lies from the Speaker.”
But Johnson can’t only worry about Stefanik.
This is a preview of Hayes Brown's latest column. Read the full column here.
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