Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is facing serious blowback from those in his own party for trying to push through a continuing resolution filled with unnecessary spending. Sources on Capitol Hill, including both lawmakers and their staff, told the Caller Johnson may have cost himself the Speaker’s job with the poorly-received gambit right before Christmas.
“Mike Johnson spent a lot of time fundraising off of selfies with President Trump, and then betrayed him right before the inauguration. He’ll have to answer for that in January,” a senior House Republican staffer told the Caller. (RELATED: The Craziest Things Congress Snuck Into Its Pork-Packed Christmas Spending Spree)
The 1,574-page spending measure will receive votes from both Democrats and Republicans, but Johnson broke several promises in the process of putting forth the bill. Johnson said in September that he has “no intention of going back” to the “terrible tradition” of a Christmas omnibus.
A senior house aide told the Caller that House Republicans have lost trust in Johnson and that it will be hard to recover from.
“It’s not a competence or leadership question for some folks now. It’s a trust question. That’s gonna be tough to come back from,” the senior house aide said.
The speaker says by passing the CR, “we’re clearing the decks and we are setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with the America First agenda.” However, it is being opposed by Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk, who will be running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), as well as President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance themselves.
Johnson also promised that the spending bill would be written by committee leaders in an open process and members would have at least 72 hours to read it before voting, but in reality, the new CR was negotiated behind closed doors by leadership.
“On every important issue this majority has faced, the Speaker has shown himself to be inapt and outsmarted by Biden and Schumer and is too easily willing to surrender,” one House Republican lawmaker told the Caller.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) questions U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland during a hearing by the House Judiciary Committee, Washington, DC, June 4, 2024. (Photo by ALLISON BAILEY/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie was the first House Republican to say he would oppose Johnson’s bid for Speaker, saying Wednesday: “I’ll vote for somebody else.” When asked who he would vote for instead he said: “I’ve got a few in mind. I’m not going to say yet.”
“There’s a cognitive disconnect among my colleagues who hated Speaker Johnson’s CR, but still plan to vote for Speaker Johnson in 2 weeks. That 1557 page bill was a product of the swamp that uniparty Johnson was happy to facilitate. He couldn’t understand why we didn’t lap it up,” Massie tweeted Thursday morning. (RELATED: Speaker Johnson Backs Out Of Event With Trump And Tucker As Deadline Looms And Backlash Erupts)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., center, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., left, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., conduct a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center after a meeting of the House Republican Conference on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
No other House Republicans have said they plan to challenge Johnson for the Speakership. Notably, Republicans’ razor-thin House majority in the next Congress would give even a small anti-Johnson group significant leverage over who becomes the next Speaker.
Johnson’s office declined to comment for this piece.
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