Congress

Conservatives weigh potential show of opposition against Johnson

Published

2 years ago

November 11, 2024

Even as Republicans are increasingly optimistic that they’ll keep control of the House, some conservatives remain wary of Mike Johnson — and they’re discussing how to telegraph their concerns in next week’s secret leadership ballot.

With nearly two dozen races still outstanding, Johnson seems close to a major victory: Holding the tiny GOP majority, after a campaign season where he tied himself closely to Donald Trump and campaigned heavily for his at-risk members. Still, some House Republicans are mulling ways to signal their potential opposition to Johnson’s bid on the secret ballot, according to two Republicans familiar with the discussions, who were granted anonymity to talk about private plans.

Johnson is expected to easily clear the majority hurdle needed to become the speaker nominee in that meeting on Wednesday. But conservatives could field a candidate to run against him for the speaker nod, or may try to oppose him or vote present in the secret ballot.

That won’t be enough to derail his nomination, but it’s a warning for Johnson ahead of the real test in January, when he’ll need a majority vote on the House floor to take the gavel. If Republicans only take control of the House by a slim margin, as expected, that means Johnson will need near-unanimous support from his conference since he can’t count on any Democratic votes.

Enter skeptical conservatives, who want concessions from Johnson on the rules governing the chamber and a plan to secure conservative wins in exchange for their votes. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy faced similar demands two years ago, when it took him 15 ballots to get elected speaker on the House floor — he ultimately had to make several changes to the rules that gave conservatives more power and severely weakened his hold on the conference.

“There are a number of members who are still very undecided and withholding judgment,” said one GOP member, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. Their hesitations are tied to “past performance,” like how Johnson handled spending fights and Ukraine aid, but also questions about “whether or not we’re going to be able to deliver.”

If another candidate doesn’t challenge Johnson next week, that could allow leadership to call for a voice vote rather than a ballot — that’s how Paul Ryan earned the speaker nod in 2016 — handicapping any conservative attempt to formally vote against Johnson, at least until January. Hardliners largely in the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus backed a symbolic candidate, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), against McCarthy in 2022. But Biggs failed to get a majority in the conference vote.

The Arizona Republican declined to say if he would vote for Johnson next week or if he would mount another symbolic challenge. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), another Freedom Caucus member, said he wasn’t sure yet if he would support Johnson, adding that his focus is on the rules for the next Congress.

“[The] devil is in the details,” Norman said, while joking that the group was not privately “scheming” but instead “we’re discussing, we’re planning.”

Johnson has a few advantages over McCarthy that could help him avoid a drawn-out leadership fight. McCarthy was looking to lead Republicans when Democrats were going to control both the Senate and the White House. Johnson, however, is looking at a Donald Trump presidency and possible control of both chambers of Congress, and many GOP lawmakers are eager to dive into their agenda.

There is a fear that Trump could retaliate against those hamstringing the GOP agenda, and his influence in deep-red districts could be particularly costly if he goes nuclear in ways he previously has, including encouraging primary challengers.

Plus, if Trump bearhugs Johnson, as the GOP leader predicts he will, that would complicate any effort to derail his speakership bid. If Johnson refuses to play ball on conservative demands, they would have to choose between backing down with little to show for it or risking Trump’s wrath. And if the floor fight that begins on Jan. 3 lasts more than three days, it risks delaying the congressional certification of Trump’s election victory.

But Johnson still has stubborn pockets of opposition he’ll have to work on. Eleven Republicans helped advance an ouster effort against Johnson earlier this year, though several have since indicated they would not have actually voted to boot him from office. He has some detractors outside that group as well, who publicly grumbled that they didn’t have faith in Johnson’s leadership but believed a May ouster would have plunged the conference into ill-timed chaos.

Johnson’s most vocal detractors are Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). While neither have publicly indicated since the election how they will vote next week, Greene has said she wants to delay the secret-ballot leadership contest. Other Johnson critics reside within the Freedom Caucus, and members of the group convened behind closed doors this week with incoming lawmakers to strategize about leadership votes, concessions they want on the rules and the start of the Trump administration.

Multiple conservatives say they are eager to protect the changes they extracted under McCarthy, including the internal rule that allows only one member to trigger a vote to oust a speaker, known as the motion to vacate. But they also have various demands about government spending — and the Dec. 20 government shutdown deadline could be a major test for Johnson ahead of the January floor vote.

But it is not just the conference’s conservatives who are trying to shape the next Congress.

A group of centrists have been crafting their own rule proposals for months. They filed potential amendments to the rules earlier this week, including one that would require a majority of House Republicans to support a motion to vacate in order to trigger a vote to oust a speaker, one member familiar with the effort told Blue Light News. Another allows members to be removed from committees if they block the party’s legislative priorities by opposing so-called rule votes on the House floor.

Some Republicans have also called for Johnson to overhaul the House Rules Committee by removing conservative Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Massie and Norman. The three were added to the typically leadership-aligned panel by McCarthy — part of his deal with hardliners two years ago. They’ve used their posts to cause occasional headaches for leadership, preventing bills from getting out of the committee until their demands are met.

Illustrating the tough spot Johnson is in, conservatives are ready to demand that the three members keep those spots.

“I’d like to stay on Rules,” Norman said. “I’m doing a good job.”

Congress

Trump-aligned parents rally behind kids’ online safety rules

Published

6 hours ago

July 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Parents’ rights groups aligned with the MAGA movement and other socially conservative groups are imploring congressional leaders to enact strict rules that aim to prevent online dangers for kids.

They join a chorus of more progressive parent and survivor groups urging lawmakers ahead of an upcoming Senate Commerce online kids’ safety markup to enact robust and clear “duty of care” requirements that would legally compel technology companies to prevent harm to children.

In a July 30 letter to Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), shared first with Blue Light News, the groups demanded specific standards that would require technology companies to “truly stand with, not against parents.”

So-called duty of care requirements have emerged as a central battleground in negotiations over kids’ online safety legislation. The provision would mandate tech companies to take reasonable steps to prevent and mitigate specific harms to minors on their platforms and would give regulators a legal basis to hold companies accountable if they fail to do so.

“[W]e write as parents, pro-family leaders, survivors, and child advocates to implore you to act in a way that truly empowers parents to protect our children, and to resist the rather loud voices who say that immunity for Big Tech and evisceration of state efforts in this space is somehow pro-parent,” the groups wrote. “It is not.”

They also urged lawmakers to expand on state laws rather than override them. Preemption provisions have become much more broadly unpopular in the year since Cruz tried — and failed — to attach a 10-year moratorium on the ability of states to set their own artificial intelligence laws in the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“States are standing with parents and children,” the letter reads. “Your committee must build on that work, not tear it down.”

The groups signing the letter, led by Institute for Families and Technology, include MAGA-aligned Moms for Liberty, Louisiana Family Forum, South Dakota Family Voice and the Family Policy Alliance, a conservative Christian group influencing state policies.

Cruz this week postponed a broader artificial intelligence markup tentatively planned for next week until September. Instead, next week, he’s going to take up several measures on kids’ safety and chatbots.

Cruz, in an interview Wednesday, did not rule out preemption provisions in next week’s markup, telling Blue Light News, “Those are all active topics under negotiation.”

Spokespeople for Cruz and Cantwell did not return requests for comment.

The letter comes as right-leaning and family organizations have a heightened awareness of kids’ safety around technology. In fact, the issue was a big topic at last week’s SoCon Con, where there were multiple panels and speakers on kids and tech, including one on keeping kids safe and how to “beat Big Tech.”

“This is new substantive engagement that didn’t really exist before,” said a social conservative advocate granted anonymity to discuss private coalition discussions. “There’s this tipping point that is happening where these groups represent large populations at the state level and saying this is an issue that’s important to us and we’re going to engage as family groups.”

Congress

Top senators consider blocking Trump’s grant shakeup in spending stopgap

Published

7 hours ago

July 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate leaders are deciding whether to block President Donald Trump from finalizing a plan to put political appointees in charge of approving grants, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins said Thursday.

“I have made very clear that I oppose the new rule,” the Maine Republican told reporters. “So I hope we’ll take advantage of this opportunity to delay it. But that’s up to the leadership.”

Senate leaders are working to finalize a bipartisan stopgap bill to keep federal agencies funded beyond the Sept. 30 government shutdown deadline, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune reiterated Thursday that he hopes to pass the measure next week.

The South Dakota Republican did not say, however, whether the legislation will stifle the Trump administration’s proposed regulation to do away with the peer-review process for awarding billions of dollars each year to state and local governments, community groups, education institutions and nonprofit organizations.

“There are a handful of issues still under consideration,” Thune told reporters Thursday afternoon. “And I’m hoping that both sides can come together and figure the last couple of remaining issues out.”

Blocking the Trump proposal is among the demands Democratic senators have included in their offers to Republicans in funding negotiations. Every Senate Democrat called earlier this month for White House budget director Russ Vought to rescind the proposal.

Some Republican senators, including Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, have also been publicly supportive of heading off the regulation the Office of Management and Budget is moving to finalize as soon as this summer.

“There have been thousands, hundreds of thousands, of comments against it,” Collins said Thursday, noting that she urged Vought to hold off weeks ago, while Murkowski said that she thinks White House officials “need to pull back” on the plan.

“Everybody’s coming unglued about this,” the Alaska Republican told reporters, noting outrage from nonprofit groups, community leaders and tribal organizations. “When you start issuing grants based on political connections, that’s not good for the system here.”

Democrats are also pushing to use the upcoming funding bill to stop the Trump administration from unilaterally canceling funding Congress has approved and to reverse the cancellation of grants the Trump administration recently admitted in court that it terminated based “solely on the political identity” of the state leaders where the grants went. Republicans rejected Democrats’ calls to do the same on prior bills.

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

Congress

Blanche’s big meeting

Published

8 hours ago

July 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met Thursday afternoon with Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — the key holdouts on his nomination as permanent AG. A spokesperson for Cornyn and a second person granted anonymity to describe the private meeting confirmed the discussion.

It took place just hours after President Donald Trump indicated he would not give in to demands made by Cornyn and Tillis to modify his May settlement agreement with the IRS — a central demand of the two senators to allow Blanche through the Senate Judiciary Committee.