Democrats have stepped forward to offer House Speaker Mike Johnson support in case hardliner Republicans come for him — but at a price.
“Democrats willing to consider the matter said Johnson would first have to forge an agreement with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries ensuring Democrats had a greater voice in the legislative process,” according to an exclusive report from The Hill.
“In that case, they’d be willing to provide the votes to keep the Speaker in power,” the report continues.
“Just like I told McCarthy: Talk to Hakeem, and there are some of us that can support you,” Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar told the outlet, referring to ousted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. “I’ll say the same thing [to Johnson].”
A handful of House Democrats are willing to help Speaker Mike Johnson save his job but only for a price https://t.co/ULfQhg8Exd pic.twitter.com/TCmkw0INgn
— The Hill (@thehill) January 13, 2024
Rep. Dan Kildee said something similar.
“He would have to be more willing than Kevin McCarthy was to sit down with Hakeem Jeffries and have a conversation about what it would take for us to be helpful,” Kildee said. “Kevin said to pound sand. He didn’t want the help.”
“We wouldn’t be offering it as an act of charity. We would say, ‘Look, if you need Democrats to govern, then you’re going to have to take Democratic input,'” he added.
Plus, supporting Johnson would mean avoiding another drawn-out battle that’d prevent Congress from passing legislation again.
“We can’t do another three-week standstill,” an unnamed senior House Democrat complained to NBC News. “As it is, we’ve got nothing done in the 118th Congress. Look, he’s not my favorite person in the world, but on the other hand, it’s a terrible and tough job in this Congress.”
“I would be very surprised if there aren’t a number of Democrats who would support Johnson because I think we’re so tired of this. As a ‘frontliner,’ I wouldn’t want to be accused by people of slowing things down,” the Democrat added.
These remarks come amid a burgeoning effort to oust Johnson just like McCarthy. Why? Because Johnson has been working with Senate Democrats on piecing together a spending deal that’d avoid a government shutdown.
What we negotiated isn’t perfect, but it is an innovation:
– No more omnibus spending bills
– Cut billions of dollars from side-deals
– Continue the fight for more conservative wins pic.twitter.com/0x8QUdH3nh— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) January 10, 2024
News of the spending deal has outraged hardliner Republicans like House Freedom Caucus chair Bob Good.
“I’m doing everything I can to influence the Speaker to ditch the bad deal for the country, which is the Schumer deal, and to commit to cutting spending over last year and securing the border and doing whatever we can to accomplish that,” he said in a statement to The Hill.
Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene reportedly warned Johnson that she would move to “vacate the chair” unless he met her budget demands.
“If he moves forward with a separate deal, trading our border security, weakening H.R. 2 in exchange for $60 billion to Ukraine, I told him yesterday in his office that I would vacate the chair,” she revealed last week on Steve Bannon’s podcast.
Listen:
That said, these hardliner Republicans are facing backlash this time around due to exasperation among rank-and-file Republicans.
“Rank-and-file members who just want to solve the problems that face our country, and who understand that that will most likely be done through incremental progress, are furious with the hard-line tactics,” one anonymous GOP House member told The Hill.
“They think it’s playing into the Democrats’ hands; they think that it is undermining our ability to get a victory in November; and they think it’s moving the country backward. People are pissed,” the member added.
Rep. Garret Graves added that the hardliners’ behavior has “reaffirmed that they’re not focused upon real savings and real outcomes.”
“This is all theatrics for them. This is the drama caucus,” he continued.
According to The Hill, he further argued “that the continued hardball tactics from those members over the last year — from scuttling spending to ousting McCarthy — have resulted in a prolonged extension of policies approved in spending levels from the last Congress under total Democratic control.”
“Who’s the conservative? Nice job, guys,” he sarcastically said.
Either way, Johnson doesn’t appear worried.
“Look, leadership is tough. You take a lot of criticism. But remember: I am a hard-line conservative. That’s what they used to call me,” he confidently asserted last week.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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