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After House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) crossed the Capitol at noon Wednesday to meet with Senate Republicans for the first time, senators streamed out of the assembly with a rally-like enthusiasm and pledges , supporting the new speaker as he takes his first steps.
But his push to aggressively pursue spending cuts and decouple aid to Israel and Ukraine has already divided the party in both chambers, which could make it difficult – if not impossible – to pass critical issues such as defending democracies abroad and the to address the federal government’s openness.
The speaker’s opening moves have put him on a collision course with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), as both Republican leaders simultaneously struggle to navigate their own fractious conferences. An ideological conservative who firmly sided with former President Donald Trump after both were elected to national office in 2016, Johnson’s brand of conservatism largely aligns with the burgeoning right-wing wing of the Senate Republican conference, with which McConnell often falls in line conflict has arisen.
McConnell – an 81-year-old Republican who belongs to a different political generation than Johnson, 51, and is known for vigorously pursuing party goals – has broken with orthodoxy in recent years and sided with on major domestic and international issues President Biden and the Democratic majority in the Senate have set priorities. McConnell and much of his conference attendees hope to pass bipartisan bills to fund the government and provide aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan to defend their democracies.
But Johnson and his caucus this week passed a $14.3 billion aid package for Israel that was not funded by Ukraine, linking it to a partisan measure popular with many at his conference that included Biden’s signature legislative initiative, defunding Thousands of new IRS employees were planned.
The new speaker indicated that if the Senate sends back an Israel aid bill that does not include spending cuts, he will not bring it up.
“We have obligations and commitments and we want to protect, help and support our friend Israel,” Johnson told reporters. “But we also have to keep our own house in order.”
The bill, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says would increase the deficit, was declared dead upon arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate. McConnell said he agreed with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.)’s desire to tie billions in aid to Ukraine and Taiwan to Israeli funding as long as it includes changes to U.S. border policy – which suggests that That Johnson may not do so is receiving a lot of support from his Senate colleagues.
“At the risk of repeating myself, the threats facing America and our allies are serious and interconnected,” McConnell said this week. “If we ignore this fact, we do so at our own peril.”
The year-end rush to pass countless bills that need to be passed will test both Republican leaders as their conferences are guaranteed to clash in unforeseen ways this year. Johnson will have to compromise to get the legislation through the Democratic-controlled Senate, but as his predecessor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Republican of California), did so earlier this year, to pay off the country’s debt and keep the government open , Republicans in the House of Representatives ousted him. McConnell faced growing skepticism on his right.
To appease the demands of his far-right flank, Johnson is considering pushing for spending cuts in a short-term funding resolution that must be passed in two weeks to avoid a government shutdown. If Johnson accepts this proposal, it would be a disaster for Senate Democrats and many Republicans who have reached bipartisan agreement on funding the government.
Congress still has many more reauthorizations to address before the end of the year, including the farm bill, the federal aviation law, a Pentagon spending bill and foreign intelligence surveillance legislation.
How every manager deals with these hurdles There is a lot at stake for both of them in the next few weeks.
McConnell, known for his tight grip on his conference, has come under sharp criticism in recent weeks from some of his more conservative members, who are urging him to give greater support to Johnson rather than push for allocating aid to Ukraine to Israel to link funds. He is also struggling to address growing excitement in his conference over Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) embargo on military nominees, which led to a chaotic clash between Senate Republicans this week.
“I think McConnell’s position is very, very unpopular,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), long an opponent of McConnell, told reporters this week, referring to the leader’s support for Ukraine aid. “I think ultimately [it] will fail or bring down the speaker, which I don’t think is a good idea.”
This puts pressure on McConnell not to provide Republican votes for the Democratic-controlled Senate to pass compromise legislation that does not have Johnson’s approval.
“I hope that the House of Representatives will be shown respect,” said Sen. Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.).
Johnson has far less leeway with his own members, who have already shown a willingness to oust a leader over personal vendettas and deviations from conservative orthodoxy, reflecting the deep tensions that emerged during the three-week battle over speeches , have not yet overcome .
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday on whether to expel embattled Rep. George Santos from office. The move was led by five of his fellow New York Republicans, while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) led a campaign to shame other Republicans who refused to go along with her attempt to unseat Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). for her views on the war in Gaza by telling Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) to “shut up” and calling him “Colonel Sanders.”
Johnson made it clear to Republican senators this week that funding for Ukraine, long unpopular with Republican voters but a top priority for McConnell, cannot be tied to an Israel aid bill in the House or risk losing his majority to lose. Johnson told them that he would later present a separate aid bill for Ukraine as long as it was accompanied by tough border policy reforms, which McConnell also supported.
“He can’t get his majority to pass it together,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). “He kept saying, ‘Look, it’s just numbers to me – I can’t put them together.'”
And Republicans in the House are terrified of being overwhelmed by the Senate. Republicans largely agreed that they should put forward the most conservative version of a bill – in large part because it is the only way to ensure passage through their razor-thin margin of four votes – knowing full well that negotiations between both chambers would ultimately lead to one A stronger version would result in a watered down, but still conservative, version of their proposal that ends up on the president’s desk.
“If anyone wants another dollar for Ukraine, they have to come to me, and that includes Mitch McConnell,” Roy said. “He may think he can do his old-fashioned steamroller crap around town, but I think the signals that have been sent over the last year are that a new day is dawning in Washington, D.C., and Mitch McConnell, frankly , it will fail.” past him. It’s up to the rest of the Senate to figure that out.”
Johnson, who brings a warm, positive attitude to the toughest job in Washington, praised McConnell and his team when he spoke to them this week – even though he was introduced to the group by occasional McConnell critic Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). McConnell remained silent during the meeting.
“Unlike me, he has no rough edges,” Ron Johnson said of the new speaker.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said he believes McConnell and Mike Johnson are more in sync than they appear and that they have spoken at least three times since Johnson took office. McConnell and Johnson met privately for 45 minutes before lunch, a McConnell aide said, kicking off their regular standing meeting.
“He knows the limits of Mike’s abilities given what he’s working with, and he knows his own,” Cramer said of McConnell. “The perception that there is somehow this conflict between the two [leaders] is actually more of a conflict between institutions.”
Senate defense activists also cheered Johnson’s statement that he wanted to pass an aid bill for Ukraine – as long as it included U.S. border provisions – given House Republicans’ strong shift away from the war-torn country.
Many House Republicans don’t know which path Johnson will choose if a bill supporting Israel without repeal of the IRS is brought back from the Senate. or with the support of Ukraine. If both chambers come together and agree on a compromise, will Johnson put it forward and risk angering Republicans who want a more conservative bill, or will he prevent it from ever being voted on? Johnson has indicated he won’t introduce a bill without the IRS provision – a move that could cost him his job.
“There is such great esprit de corps among Republicans in the House,” Johnson said hours before the bill passed. “Not only are we united, we are energized.”
A little more than a week into his new position as speaker, Johnson is already facing the challenge that McCarthy found difficult to overcome: appeasing the warring factions within the spending conference. While Republicans are OK with cuts, the question of how and where to implement them has fueled tensions between moderate and far-right factions.
When Johnson set out an ambitious year-long government funding schedule during the speaker’s campaign, he already missed the mark after having to withdraw consideration of a transport bill. New York Republicans are eager to ensure that Amtrak, a major transportation source in the Northeast, does not suffer significant cuts. Other Republicans worry that proposals to cut housing construction will negatively impact promises made to counties about more housing projects. And the House Freedom Caucus continues to insist on ensuring that all proposed cuts remain in the bill.
The remaining bills the House must pass are the most controversial. Two are still stuck on the committee because Republicans’ internal disputes over policy won’t allow them to speak. And House Republicans have been unable to reconcile differences that led to their failure to pass a farm bill riddled with far-right priorities, including a federal ban on abortion pills and cutting funding to poor women help feed their children.
“Well, I’m from Louisiana, so I describe everything with either football or hurricane metaphors,” Johnson said when asked what his first days as a speaker were like. “Let me say, this is like an F5 hurricane. It was a whirlwind, but in a great way.”