In a holiday rush, Republicans in the U.S. House warmed up for the new year by doing what they do best — fighting with each other — as they wrapped up the most dysfunctional session of Congress in memory.
GOP infighting over the messy details of a year-end legislative package led to questions not only about the agenda of President-elect Donald Trump — but also whether Republicans will reelect House Speaker Mike Johnson when the 119th Congress convenes Jan. 3.
“I’m not worried about the speaker vote,” Johnson told reporters before Christmas. But with fellow Republicans seemingly indifferent to his fate, maybe he should be.
“He’s going to need Democrats to support him, or he’ll never make speaker,” said U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas.
“There will be no Democrats available to save him,” countered House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“Beware the Ides of March,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, as a number of Republicans simply refused to answer questions from reporters about whether they would vote for Johnson.
The messy end to this year and the 118th Congress didn’t exactly seem like the best way for Republicans to prepare for their GOP trifecta in Washington, where they will control the White House and both houses of Congress.
“Washington is beyond broken,” grumbled U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, thoroughly aggravated by GOP leadership decisions on a short-term funding bill. “This isn’t how Washington is supposed to work.”
Clyde makes a good point. If Republicans couldn’t get on the same page this year, why is it going to be different when Trump takes office?
Just before Christmas, we saw Trump and GOP lawmakers go in different directions. Trump wanted Congress to lift the nation’s debt limit for his time in office, but 38 House Republicans refused — as they demanded real spending cuts, not feel-good talk about cuts.
“I made a promise to address the debt, and I will not back down from it,” said U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Suwanee.
In the past four years, we have seen each party control the House with the same very narrow majority. The results were totally different.
In 2021-2022, Democrats gave President Joe Biden a series of major legislative victories by staying unified.
In 2023-2024, Republicans couldn’t stick together and repeatedly had to rely on Democrats to keep the government funded.
Republicans cannot afford a repeat of that in 2025. Perfect cannot be the enemy of the good. It could cripple the Trump agenda.
Starting Jan. 3, the GOP will be on the clock. And the speaker’s neck will be on the line first.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at http://jamiedupree.substack.com.
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