WASHINGTON — New Speaker Mike Johnson finds himself leading House Republicans with a majority in name only.
Unable to unite his unruly right flank and commanding one of the slimmest House majorities in history, Johnson is being forced to rely on Democrats for the basics of governing, including the latest bill to prevent a federal shutdown.
Approaching his first 100 days on the job, Johnson faces daunting choices ahead. He can try to corral conservatives, who are pushing rightward in endless hours of closed-door meetings, to work together as a team. Or he can keep reaching out to Democrats for a bipartisan coalition to pass compromise legislation.
“Everyone understands the reality of where we are,” Johnson said at a weekly news conference.
“The House Republicans have the second-smallest majority in history,” he said. “We’re not going to get everything that we want. But we’re going to stick to our core conservative principles.”
Elected in 2016, Johnson has become aligned with Donald Trump who won the White House that year, and Johnson led a key legal challenge for Trump in 2020 trying to overturn Biden’s election.
For now, the far-right forces that ousted Johnson’s predecessor, former Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, from the speaker’s office, are allowing a grace period. They are frustrated by Johnson’s reluctance to take dramatic action such as a government shutdown to win their priorities. But they are heartened that at least Johnson is forthcoming with them.
But the hard-line Republicans are watching and waiting — any single lawmaker can file a motion for a vote to oust the speaker — especially as Johnson confronts the challenges ahead on government spending, U.S. border security and wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
“It’s a loss for the American people to join hands with Democrats to form a governing coalition,” said Virginia Rep. Bob Good, the newly elected chairman of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, after last week’s vote to keep government running.
Good complained that passage of the short-term spending bill, which Biden signed into law before the Friday midnight deadline, was “a failure.”
Johnson will confront another shutdown threat March 1 when some of the temporary funding again runs out.
More immediately, Johnson and House Republicans are warily watching Senate negotiations over an immigration and border security package designed to reduce the record flow of migrants and expedite the deportations of some of those who have already entered the United States illegally.
