House speaker's head could roll over latest GOP 'dumpster fire'

Speaker Mike Johnson may face a leadership challenge in the new year after angering conservatives in the House.

Republicans are running up against the Dec. 20 deadline to pass a stopgap appropriations bill to fund the federal government, or else a partial shutdown could be triggered. Despite operating with a Republican majority since the 2022 election, the party has been unable to pass the legislation in a timely fashion.

Congressional leaders are negotiating over the size of disaster and farm relief, which is needed to respond to recent hurricanes and other natural disasters, as well as continuing trade issues triggered by Donald Trump’s trade war with China started when he was last president.

But the disorganized process of agreeing to the bill’s contents is provoking derogatory comments from the most conservative House members. South Carolina Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of the right-wing Freedom Caucus told Politico that his fellow conservatives are “frustrated with the outcome.” A tentative deal on the new spending prompted Republican Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri to describe it as “garbage” and a “total dumpster fire.”

Texas Rep. Chip Roy was even more blunt, calling the agreement “negotiated crap” and complaining “we’re forced to eat this crap sandwich” because of the hurried process and the looming deadline.

Johnson will need the votes of at least some of the members put off by the process when the new Congress is seated in January and leadership elections are held. Despite the party’s success in the 2024 elections, the maximum number of seats they are projected to hold is 222 of the 435 seats in total.

In January of this year the party had an extremely contentious race for the speakership, with then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy surviving 15 rounds of voting before eventually prevailing. That turned out to be the least of McCarthy’s worries, because by October he had been ousted in a vote sparked by conservative Republicans.

In spite of Republican political success, the party’s time in charge of Congress has been marked by turmoil. The majority has had to rely on votes from Democrats to keep basic government functions operational, which has in turn angered the most conservative factions of the Republican caucus.

Johnson emerged from the McCarthy mess as leader, but he was clearly not the first choice but rather someone the party settled on. Now he will need to rely on that lukewarm support and fresh feelings of resentment to keep him in the presidential line of succession.