Mike Johnson’s luck seems to have finally run out amid the government shutdown fight.
He is now facing immense pressure from Democrats and even some of his Republican colleagues in the House and Senate, as he has kept the House out of session since September. Johnson ostensibly did this after the House passed a stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, expecting Democrats and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to blink in the same way they did in March.
Every day for the past week, Johnson has gathered reporters to hold press conferences and place the blame on Schumer and Democrats for keeping the government shut down.
It hasn’t worked that way this time. Rather, Democrats have rejected the “clean” continuing resolution and have demanded that any continuing resolution include an extension of enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act’s health care marketplace. And Johnson is hearing people’s anger.
When he appeared on C-SPAN on Thursday, a Republican military spouse from Virginia called to criticize him for not putting forward legislation to ensure military pay.
“As a Republican, I'm very disappointed in my party and I'm very disappointed in you, because you have the power to call the House back,” she told a somber-looking Johnson, who sat nodding his head. “You refuse to do that just for that.”
In response, Johnson deflected the blame to Democrats and said Schumer would “hold that up in the Senate.”
But now he’s even facing criticism in his own party on the House side. Some Republicans have floated the idea of a one-year extension of the health care tax credits, which Democrats have rejected.
Meanwhile, Marjorie Taylor Greene lit into Johnson and Republican leadership for the lack of a plan to deal with health care premiums potentially doubling.
Greene even went on CNN to criticize Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, suggesting that Republicans torpedo the filibuster to end the shutdown.
But Johnson isn’t just facing criticism for the government shutdown. Last month, Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat, won a special election to fill her late father’s old seat in Arizona’s 7th congressional district. But Johnson has refused to swear her in.
It finally led to Arizona’s two Democratic senators–Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly–confronting Johnson outside his office.
“There are 750,000 people in that district who have no representation,” Kelly told The Independent. “He has sworn other people in before. Under these same circumstances, he should swear in.”
Many have speculated that Johnson has refused to swear her in since she would be the 218th signature needed to put a discharge petition to declassify files related to Jeffrey Epstein to the floor.
“They teach in war all plans go to s*** when we first hit contact,” Gallego, a trash-talking Marine, told The Independent. “The plan the Republicans had was, ‘we're going to push the Democrats to fold. And then we'll get to it somehow, eventually dealing with ACA,’ I think they didn't realize that we weren't going to fold, and they didn't have a plan B after that.”
It’s a massive reversal of fortune for Johnson, who became speaker two years ago this month after a bitter fight among Republicans after Matt Gaetz ousted Kevin McCarthy.
Johnson, until then a mostly anonymous backbencher, emerged as a consensus candidate who built relationships with every faction. He carefully navigated working with Democrats during Joe Biden’s presidency, passing aid to Ukraine and avoiding a conservative coup attempt by Greene.
When Donald Trump returned to the White House, Johnson gained another chit. The president’s trust meant he could call Trump and force his most cantankerous conservative members to fold, as was the case with the passage of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill.”
But Trump has mostly been out to lunch during the shutdown. Rather than negotiating with Schumer or House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Trump has relished in making memes about cuts to spending and even saying he wants a deal on health care.
So far, Johnson has held the line. He still has an immense amount of leverage, given that as speaker, he controls the calendar and can keep the House out of session as long as he wants. Even Schumer told The Independent earlier this week during a reporter Q&A that any deal on reopening the government would require Schumer, Jeffries, Thune and Johnson to make an agreement.
But every day troops are paid, every story about premiums doubling in states–including his native Louisiana–adds pressure on him. He has no legal or moral obligations to keep the House out. But his political obligations might force him to fold.
