Mike Johnson Tries to Thread the Needle

“Mike Johnson’s tightrope walk to remain House speaker starts this coming week,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The Louisiana Republican needs to pass a short-term spending bill to keep the government funded, avoid sparking open GOP rebellion, keep the Republican majority in the November election and then get colleagues to line up behind him in January. It is a tall order even for Johnson, who defied expectations by navigating the House through a series of sticky intraparty battles after stepping into the role of speaker when Kevin McCarthy was ousted last year.”

“Johnson, whose party has a historically minuscule 220-211 majority, doesn’t have a clear path to a spending deal and is making no promises. How he handles the arcane but ideologically fraught fight in the coming weeks could have profound implications for Republicans’ chances at the ballot box and Johnson’s own political future.”