The wheels are coming off the House Republican Conference.
In a week that was supposed to set the tone for a furious period of election-year legislating, Speaker Mike Johnson’s House GOP majority is once again the epitome of discord and dysfunction.
It’s not really clear how House Republicans will get through the next few days. Johnson’s leadership team may lose yet another big rule vote. There’s constant grumbling inside House Republican leadership circles as people snipe at one another. Senate Republicans are furious with their House GOP counterparts. The White House seems fed up with the chaotic House GOP conference too. Plus, the stakes couldn’t be higher, politically and policy-wise.
After a Rules Committee hearing that stretched from Monday to Tuesday, House GOP leadership plans to go to the floor today with a blueprint for debating several key bills. These include a FISA Section 702 renewal; a farm bill; legislation allowing the year-round sale of E15 ethanol fuel; and a budget resolution to fund ICE and Border Patrol.
But that GOP-drafted rule looks destined to fail, another potentially devastating misstep for Johnson and his top lieutenants.
And then what? Will Johnson keep the House in over the weekend? Will Johnson cancel the upcoming week-long May recess? Will Johnson have to punt to the Senate to ensure that the nation’s most critical foreign surveillance program doesn’t expire?
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