As House conservatives cope with Mike Johnson putting a government funding bill on the floor that the majority of Republicans will oppose, the speaker seemed intent on satisfying his right flank in at least one way: procedurally.
This Congress — under both Johnson and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy — Republicans have pressed their leaders to advance legislation under “regular order.” Basically, from how much time members get to read legislation to which amendments get a vote, there’s an accepted process for passing bills in Congress. And one of those key steps in “regular order” is adopting a rule.
The rule sets up floor debate and dictates which amendments get a vote on the floor. And the Rules Committee — once colloquially known as “the Speaker’s Committee” — advances the rule to the floor. The majority then adopts the rule, and then the bill comes to the floor for consideration and a vote.
Johnson had already ruffled some GOP feathers by pursuing a continuing resolution that has some “anomalies” — essentially a congressional term to mean the bill isn’t just a clean extension of current funding levels — but before votes began Monday night, the Rules Committee was teeing up a vote on the CR to bring it to the floor under “regular order.”
But by the time votes had ended Monday night, even this sad and symbolic victory of parliamentarism wasn’t coming to fruition. Johnson will not only upset his GOP conference on substance, but he’ll manage to do it on style too.
The reason for the sudden change is simple enough — and it’s emblematic of all of Johnson’s problems: He doesn’t have the votes.
Part of the compromise McCarthy made to become speaker at the beginning of January 2023 was to put three hard-line Republicans on the Rules Committee: Reps. Thomas Massie, Ralph Norman and Chip Roy.
With those three on the panel, it’s hardly the Speaker’s Committee these days. And when it became apparent Monday that those three Republicans wouldn’t support the rule for the CR advancing out of the committee, the question was whether Democrats would help Johnson and lend him a hand — or, more specifically, a vote.
Unfortunately for the speaker, the ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee, Jim McGovern, made it clear that no one on his side of the dais would be bailing Johnson out — especially if they included any “crappy bills.” (In addition to setting up consideration for the CR, Johnson wanted to use the same rule to pave the way for debate on some other measures that Democrats oppose, which is definitely not “regular order.”)
That left Johnson with one real play: Suspend the rules and, once again, just rely on Democrats to get him over the two-thirds threshold required to pass bills under suspension.
And when Johnson, once again, went with that decision, that left Republicans, once again, upset.
“They haven’t changed. It’s been a disappointment,” Rep. Barry Moore told NOTUS. “We’re doing worse now than we were under McCarthy.”
Even Rep. Bob Good — who voted for McCarthy’s ouster a year ago over similar grievances — acknowledged that Johnson’s ascension hadn’t solved the GOP conference’s problems.
“It’s highly disappointing that, after two years in the majority, we have virtually nothing to show the American people in return for them trusting us with the majority,” Good told NOTUS. “In other words, every significant piece of legislation that’s become law has been passed with predominant Democrat votes in the House.”
As the GOP’s wolves start looking at Johnson with hungry eyes, outside the House they’re starting to howl.
While Donald Trump takes a break from demanding a government shutdown, other Republicans have taken up the mantle, if not with more subtlety, then at least with more acceptable capitalization.
“Have you noticed how UNBOTHERED 99% of GOP lawmakers are tonight about @MikeJohnson dropping the ball on the Save Act?” far-right agitator, and informal Trump adviser, Laura Loomer said Sunday on X.
“These people just aren’t passionate about supporting Donald Trump,” she continued. “It’s sad to see them all use him, but not even lift a finger to help him. He deserves better.”
Former presidential candidate — and current Trump surrogate — Vivek Ramaswamy also chimed in, advising House Republicans to embrace closing down the government before the election. “When you can’t reform it, shut it down,” he said.
And Grace Chong, the chief financial officer of Trump’s WarRoom, piled on, calling Johnson’s move a “bait and switch” on X.
Of course, Johnson tried to do things Trump’s way last week by attaching a GOP priority to the CR, but he was taken down by his own conference. Although Trump himself has not commented on the House GOP’s plan since Johnson officially announced his plan to advance a clean CR, the comments from his allies are serving as a de facto stand-in for Trump’s voice.
“What’s gonna play a lot in who’s gonna be the next speaker is who we think can work well with President Trump,” Rep. Tim Burchett told NOTUS.
Pressed whether Johnson fits that bill, Burchett was matter-of-fact. “If he can work well with President Trump, it is,” he said.
The trouble is that Trump and the House are a seemingly incompatible pairing. The incremental movements that produce functional policies don’t exactly gel with Trump’s personal philosophy of governing. Some members understand his frustration only too well.
“There’s a kind of a rivalry between Trump and the House, and I don’t mean that in a bad way,” Rep. Paul Gosar told NOTUS. “You know, Trump has seen what has come out of this place, and he doesn’t like it. He sees the frustration. He sees all the same old, same old kind of crap. And he’s tired of it. I’m tired of it.”
But Johnson swears it’s all for Trump’s benefit — and many of his colleagues agree.
As he spelled out in a Sunday “Dear Colleague” letter, forcing a shutdown like Trump wants would be costly and unpopular in an election year.
“As history has taught and current polling affirms,” Johnson wrote, “shutting the government down less than 40 days from a fateful election would be an act of political malpractice.”
While many Republicans are agitating for a shutdown, Johnson has some unexpected allies.
New Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris suggested that Trump’s “shut ‘er down” mentality wasn’t politically wise.
“I love President Trump,” Harris told NOTUS. “He’s got an opinion. But he doesn’t have a voting card.”
For House Republicans loyal to Trump, that’s a hard fact to reconcile — though they’ll try to reconcile it anyway.
When NOTUS asked several lawmakers how they square their support for Trump — who has repeatedly called for a shutdown — with their support of Johnson, several tried to avoid a straight answer.
Rep. Aaron Bean punted the question until after Election Day. “Nov. 6, it’s a totally new ball game,” he said.
Rep. Nick LaLota just avoided it entirely. “I haven’t thought much about that,” he said.
But for Rep. Rich McCormick, there was an easy scapegoat. The spending dilemma isn’t Johnson’s fault, it isn’t McCarthy’s fault and it’s certainly not Trump’s fault. Instead, it’s the conservatives who have been undermining the speaker at every turn.
“It doesn’t matter how good you are at your job around here; there’s people who make a living off of opposing leadership. Literally make a living off of it,” McCormick said.
“Ask any Caesar, it’s always hard to be in leadership because people are always looking to assassinate you,” he added.
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Ben T.N. Mause is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
Riley Rogerson is a reporter at NOTUS.
Katherine Swartz is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.