The House GOP's long-simmering internal tensions burst open Wednesday as Speaker Mike Johnson faced the prospect of temporarily ceding control of the floor at the start of next year.
Why it matters: GOP frustration with Johnson (R-La.) isn't new. But infuriated House Republicans are also taking out their anger on each other.
- "Those members need not ask me for any help in their campaigns whatsoever," Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) told Axios of his centrist GOP colleagues who signed the discharge petition that will force a House vote on extending the Affordable Care Act's premium tax credits.
- Conservatives loathe the idea of doing anything to prop up the ACA. For some, that made Wednesday's defections feel like a personal betrayal.
Zoom in: Centrist Republicans were furious that Johnson refused to allow a vote on their proposals to extend the subsidies, pushing some to conclude their only option was to side with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
- "Our team should've put in the compromise. Now we're voting for the worse one. It's just sort of dumb," said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.).
- Four Republicans — Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Robert Bresnahan (R-Pa.) and Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.) — signed the discharge petition on Wednesday.
Zoom out: Johnson insisted he hasn't "lost control of the House."
- "We have the smallest majority in US history. These are not normal times," he told reporters on Wednesday.
- "He's got the toughest job in America," Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) told Axios.
- "In defense of Johnson, if he brought a bill to the floor that extended the ACA tax credits, I think then you'd have guys on the conservative side that would say it would be easy for nine people to go down there and move to vacate the chair, because they don't agree with what he's allowing to occur."
But Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), arguably the biggest thorn in Johnson's side, told Axios there's no real threat to Johnson's speakership right now.
- "Johnson will be speaker til the day [President] Trump doesn't want him to be speaker," Massie told Axios.
What's next: Meanwhile, in the Senate, a group of Republicans is planning to seize on the discharge petition, which will extend the premium tax credits for three years, as a vehicle for a bipartisan bill.
- That would land back in the House with no credible way to pass it without significant support from Democrats.
Axios' Andrew Solender contributed reporting.
