The Dictatorship
Mike Johnson survives ‘hell week’ on Capitol Hill — but not before some chaos
Votes stretching on for hours. Spirited confrontations on the House floor. Rowdy committee hearings.
It was, in many respects, a chaotic week in the U.S. House of Representatives, as Republicans set out to tackle a number of key priorities that exposed deep divisions within their conference.
Last week, Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, warned reporters they would be entering “hell week” come Monday.
By Wednesday, his prediction was ringing true. “We’re experiencing what hell week looks like,” Nehls said, standing on the Capitol steps with his signature cigar in hand. “We can’t really agree on much of anything.”
On that point, though, Nehls wasn’t as prophetic.
By the end of the week, Republicans were able to muscle through their to-do list, temporarily extending the U.S.’ warrantless spying powers, approving a budget blueprint for their multibillion-dollar immigration enforcement package, and passing a sprawling farm bill. The House even sent a bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security to the president, finally ending a historic 76-day shutdown.
But at no point did Republicans make it look easy — a reality that’s fueling frustrations in the House GOP ranks, with some members directing their ire squarely at Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
“It’s just been a mess,” one House Republican, who requested anonymity to discuss the internal dynamics, told MS NOW. “We haven’t really had any guidance or direction. We’re moving from one fire drill to the next every single week, and then half the time it feels like, why are we even here?”
The GOP lawmaker continued that while there’s “a lot of blame to go around,” Johnson deserves his fair share of it.
Asked if there are conversations behind the scenes about the House GOP’s future leadership, the lawmaker said: “They’re kind of beginning.”
Another House Republican didn’t hold back.
“Johnson’s appeasement to everyone across the conference has led us to a place of dysfunction,” Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, a second-term congressman who served in the first Trump administration, told MS NOW. “We are doing what is best for the country in the short term, but damaging it for the long term by breaking precedent after precedent.”
Miller added that Johnson is a “good man.”
“But you can’t run an organization this way,” he said.
Miller, who has lobbed criticism at Johnson in the past, said the speaker would have lost his gavel a while back, but Trump is in the White House.
“If it wasn’t for the administration, the speaker would have been vacated several months ago,” Miller said, referring to the motion-to-vacate mechanism to remove the speaker.
Of course, much of the consternation is due to a narrow and ideologically diverse conference. On a party-line vote — assuming full attendance and independent Rep. Kevin Kiley of California siding with the GOP — Republicans can only afford to lose two lawmakers.
“You’ve got a very diverse conference, you got a two-vote majority,” Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., said. “So it’s very difficult to get the votes across the line.”
Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., echoed that sentiment, telling reporters that the GOP is “not a party of people that just check our voting cards in.”
“We’re not a party that just does whatever leadership tells us to do,” he said. “And I think that that’s a good thing, like, the process should work that way.”
While Burlison may be giving his colleagues a bit too much credit — Republican members have repeatedly folded over the past 16 months when Trump and GOP leaders have pressed them — it’s true that Johnson’s conference frequently starts out divided.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., went for a visual description.
“Pleasing everybody appears like nailing Jell-O to a wall,” he said. “Different people have different constituencies with different things that are important to them. We’ve seen it right here.”
Another senior House Republican, requesting anonymity to discuss the sensitive conference dynamics, put it succinctly: “We win ugly.”
“That’s what happens when you have a small majority,” this person said.
That is something even Johnson can agree with.
Asked about the unhappiness in his ranks, the speaker told reporters on Thursday that when his members don’t get exactly what they ask for, tempers flare.
“Everybody didn’t get 100% of what they wanted,” Johnson said. “But we got what we needed, and so sometimes people get frustrated when they don’t get every single thing that they’ve asked for, but they work through it.”
Johnson added that after all the delays and false starts, House Republicans were leaving town this week in a great mood, “because they understand we got the job done in spite of the challenges.”
But to Democrats, all the happy talk ignores much of the chaos.
When MS NOW asked former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., about Johnson’s job performance, she had a simple assessment: “He’s making me look good.”
The difficulties of the GOP’s razor-thin majority have been on full display since the beginning of this Congress last January. But it was particularly apparent this week.
The dysfunction kicked off on Monday and Tuesday, as the House Rules Committee — the last stop for legislation before it heads to the floor — convened again and again for marathon markups, attempting to pave the way for floor consideration of a number of bills.
As one of the meetings stretched on, Norman, a member of the panel, dared Democrats to “drag it out as long as you want.”
“Let’s stay up all night!” he sarcastically exclaimed.
“I’m happy to oblige,” Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the panel, responded.
Democrats did oblige, with the hearing continuing for another two hours, until after 9 p.m. At one point, another GOP member on the panel — Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga. — asked how much longer Democrats wanted to prolong the proceeding, wondering whether or not he should order dinner.
“You should always hydrate and you should always eat,” McGovern said.
When the Rules Committee finally reported its rule — a combined resolution setting up consideration for an extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the GOP’s budget blueprint and the farm bill — House leaders had to hold the vote open for hours to get the votes they needed.
Once again, in the end, GOP leaders got the votes they needed. But they had to cut a deal on year-round ethanol-in-gas to adopt the rule.
That deal delayed an unrelated vote — and eventually created a whole set of new problems.
Shortly after the rule vote closed, Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, a member of the Agriculture Committee, loudly yelled for Johnson on the floor.
“Hey, Mr. Speaker, can we have a conversation?” Nunn shouted, loud enough for reporters watching from the gallery to hear.
After further conversations, Johnson was forced to pivot again, adding the farm bill back to the week’s agenda without an ethanol provision and with the assurance that he would hold a vote on that measure soon.
That promise eventually created even more headaches for Johnson.
“We had an agreement today and then you changed it!” Rep. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a vocal conservative, yelled in front of reporters as he left a meeting with Johnson. “I’m going to go vote no!”
Hours later, the House began what was supposed to be a five-minute vote to approve the GOP’s budget blueprint. The vote remained open for more than five hours, as Johnson worked through the ethanol disagreements.
Finally, just after 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Johnson got the votes he needed.
While the week ended with Johnson holding his head up high, Republicans insist there should also be some shame.
Congress was only able to approve a 45-day extension of the U.S.’ warrantless spying powers. The broader fight will be awaiting lawmakers when they return to the Capitol in 12 days.
Republicans are also now racing to meet Trump’s June 1 deadline for their immigration enforcement package — a target that is quickly approaching. And that fight will almost certainly divide Republicans and expose new divisions.
But to House Republicans, that is par for the course.
“It was a little rough-and-tumble, but that’s the way the House is supposed to be,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said Thursday.
“It’s a contact sport,” he added. “Either put your cup on or go home.”
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.
A federal judge in Washington has denied a bid Wednesday brought by a watchdog group to immediately block the Justice Department’s “anti-weaponization” fund, for now choosing to trust the department’s assertions that it is not moving forward with the fund.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled immediately, denying Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have blocked the Department of Justice from taking steps to create the fund.
Throughout the 30-minute hearing, the DOJ reiterated that the administration was not moving forward with the nearly $1.8 billion fund, which seeks to compensate individuals who allege they have been politically targeted or victimized by the DOJ.
Andrew Block, the only lawyer present for the government, repeatedly cited Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s June 2 congressional testimonyin which he said the administration was “not moving forward” with plans to create the fund.
Leon indicated he agreed with the DOJ’s position that the case appeared to be moot, saying he was not persuaded there was an issue for the court to decide regarding the creation of the fund. He issued a stern warning to the DOJ, saying, “Don’t play possum with this court!” — meaning he does not want to be deceived.
The plaintiffs argued Blanche’s testimony did not amount to an official cancellation. Nikhel Sus, CREW’s attorney, said Blanche “refused to memorialize that rescission,” or in other words, put it in writing. Sus said that was “highly unusual.” Leon responded, “This whole case is highly unusual to say the least.”
Leon asked the government twice why they would not just rescind the order that established the fund. Block responded, “I don’t know,” and pointed again to Blanche’s public statements about the fund’s future.
Both Leon and Sus raised the issue of Trump’s continued public defense of the fund. “It can still be an important issue and also not moving forward,” Block said. “That isn’t a direction to move forward with the fund.”
Although Leon rejected CREW’s bid for an immediate block, he indicated he is still considering its request for a longer-term block against the fund.
A block order from a separate federal judge in Virginia remains in effect until at least Friday.
Fallon Gallagher is a legal affairs reporter for MS NOW.
The date when Social Security’s trust fund is expected to run out of money just got bumped up. The fund is now projected to empty in 2032according to a new report released by Social Security’s trustees.
The new depletion date isn’t an earth-shaking change — it’s only a quarter earlier than the estimate in last year’s report. But it illustrates how President Donald Trump’s policies are degrading a program he promised to never jeopardize — and accelerating an approaching crisis in how our government will assist the elderly and disabled.
The report names three factors that contributed to the earlier insolvency date. One is a declining fertility rate, but the other two drivers can be traced back to Trump: a drop in immigration into the country, and the “substantial effect” of the tax policies in the One Big Beautiful Bill he signed last summer.
Trump’s acceleration of the program’s insolvency comes atop his assaults on the program’s administrative capacities.
Reduced immigration during Trump’s second term — especially when coupled with a declining fertility rate — strains Social Security because the program is funded through payroll taxes. Those come out of people’s paychecks, and fewer workers supporting an aging population means the program receives less revenue. Indeed, Social Security already has been tapping its trust fund for the better part of the past two decades because the program’s costs have exceeded its cash income. And as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities pointed out last yearlast year’s tax cuts were a boon to the rich but a bust for the solvency of the Social Security trust fund.
To be clear, if the fund is depleted, Social Security won’t go belly up. Benefits will continue to be paid out, but there will be a large drop in the amount. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the “average monthly cut would total $500, which is more than what the average retired household spends on groceries each month.”
That would be a huge blow to the budgets of many older Americans. Social Security is a major source of income for most retirees, and roughly 40% of beneficiaries over the age of 65 rely on it for most of their income. And it would mark the destabilization of the sole source of retirement security for most Americans that is supposed to be insulated from ups and downs — unlike 401K plans. As the CBPP has pointed outSocial Security is “most workers’ only source of guaranteed retirement income that is not subject to investment risk or financial market fluctuations.”
Trump’s acceleration of the program’s insolvency comes atop his assaults on the program’s administrative capacities. His cuts to the Social Security Administration have left offices understaffedincreased wait timesand reduced quality of customer service.
Ultimately, Trump is exacerbating a colossal social safety net problem that predates him, and the trust fund will hit dire straits after he has left office. Democrats need to have clear plans for shoring up the program and making it robust for the future — which will require not being sheepish about taxes as a tool for renewing the social contract. And when Republicans try to claim that they, too, are champions of Social Security, all Democrats need to do is point to the truth.
Zeeshan Aleem is a writer and editor for MS NOW. He primarily writes about politics and foreign policy.
Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The latest from Northern Ireland: “The family of a man who lost an eye in a knife attack appealed for calm on Wednesday after the incident triggered a wave of anti-immigrant violence in Belfast overnight, with masked men burning families out of their homes and torching vehicles. The appeal came as a Sudanese man appeared in court charged with attempted murder and as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and politicians in Northern Ireland condemned the violence by ‘masked thugs’ that had targeted ethnic minorities.”
* In related news: “The British government hit out at X owner Elon Musk Wednesday, accusing him of whipping up tensions online ahead of disorder in Belfast.”
* The tenuous state of a dubious ceasefire: “Trump said the U.S. is going to hit Iran ‘hard’ today when pressed by reporters in the Oval Office about his statement earlier that Tehran will ‘pay the price’ for taking ‘too long’ to reach a peace agreement. ‘Well, we’re going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard, resuming bombing,’ he said.”
* The latest casualty figures from Lebanon: “Israel’s military offensive in Lebanon has killed at least 3,666 people, including 131 healthcare workers, and injured more than 11,300 since the U.S. and Israel began their war with Iran in late February, the Lebanese health ministry reported yesterday.”
* The changing nature of modern warfare: “Ukraine is wreaking havoc on unarmored trucks and trains in the battlefield’s rear, using drones with upgraded engines and batteries, integrated Starlink communication systems and new artificial-intelligence capabilities. The ramped-up attacks are causing fuel shortages, complicating troop rotations and reducing Russian military activity on the front.”
* This seems like a reasonable request: “Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee demanded Wednesday that Bill Pulte, President Donald Trump’s controversial pick for acting director of national intelligence, submit to a full security check before assuming the post, including an examination of his financial holdings and foreign contacts.”
* Some market trends can’t be stopped despite the White House’s best efforts: “Even as President Donald Trump boosts coal over clean energy, solar power is hitting new milestones in the U.S. and remains the leading source of new power. Data released Wednesday by global energy think tank Ember, along with a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association and analytics firm Wood Mackenzie, show the continued growth of solar and decline of coal in the United States despite federal policy. In May, for the first time, solar supplied more of the nation’s electricity than coal, or 12.8%, Ember said.”
* A bizarre schedule for a nonemergency vanity project: “Federal officials are laying more groundwork to begin construction on President Donald Trump’s planned 250-foot-tall triumphal arch, sharing additional documents that detail the project’s scope and an aggressive timetable for potentially completing work before Trump’s term ends. According to National Park Service documents posted this month, the administration envisions 20 hours per day of construction on the arch, year-round, in hopes of completing the project within two to three years.”
See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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