Congress

Old headaches will plague Mike Johnson in the new year

Published

6 months ago

January 5, 2026

Congress is back for the new year. But Speaker Mike Johnson isn’t exactly getting a fresh start in 2026.

The House returns from the holiday recess to confront old issues that continue to bedevil Johnson — from politically perilous battle over health care and the ongoing release of the Jeffrey Epstein files to a messy intra-GOP fight over lawmakers’ stock trading and another looming government shutdown cliff.

The speaker is working to refocus Republicans, seeking to rally members around initiatives aimed at reducing housing prices and efforts to hammer Democrats over public-benefits fraud in Minnesota and other states. President Donald Trump’s decision to depose Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro by force has also given the GOP a new rallying point amid doubts about Trump’s plan to indefinitely “run” the South American country.

But Johnson will find it hard to escape internally divisive clashes as the GOP feels pressure to address the rising cost of living and otherwise firm up its standing ahead of the November midterms.

He will immediately confront a growing battle within his ranks this week over how to tackle high health care costs after Republicans allowed enhanced Obamacare tax credits to expire at the end of 2025.

Democrats plan to move as soon as Wednesday to force a floor vote on a three-year straight extension of the lapsed subsidies, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss internal planning. That comes after four House Republicans mounted a mini-mutiny against Johnson last month by signing a discharge petition backed by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

While this three-year extension could pass the House by Thursday, the bill is set to die in the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune has indicated he has no plans to move it forward after a similar measure failed to garner the necessary 60 votes in a test vote last month. But a group of moderate senators continue to discuss a compromise proposal, and the rebellious House Republicans are hoping consensus legislation will eventually come back across the Capitol for final action.

The prospects for a bipartisan deal are dim, however, with Trump continuing to slam the Obamacare tax credits as wasteful while pushing Republicans to instead send money directly to taxpayers via health savings accounts. That’s in addition to the internal GOP battle on Capitol Hill over whether to pursue a party-line health care bill this year that could include sending checks to Americans to offset high health care costs.

Johnson is projecting confidence going into 2026, writing in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed that Republicans have “laid the groundwork for an extraordinary new year — from containing the border crisis and stabilizing inflation to securing historic tax, trade and peace deals.”

“The best is yet to come,” he wrote, predicting that Americans would “experience the tangible results of common-sense governance” and reward the GOP at the ballot box.

But that isn’t likely to keep internal rivalries in check. On Venezuela, for instance, Johnson will have to grapple with a pro-intervention Florida delegation while other elements of the conference could be more skeptical of Trump’s threats of long-term military engagement.

Another headache from inside Johnson’s own conference is coming from hard-liners such as Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, who are demanding a vote on legislation to ban congressional stock trading.

Johnson and House Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) are seeking to head off threats of a discharge petition that would force a vote on that proposal by drafting their own framework for cracking down on insider trading. They plan to move it out of Steil’s panel and onto the floor in the coming weeks.

But the GOP leadership-backed bill would, as POLITICO first reported, still allow lawmakers to hold stocks they already own — a concession that might pass muster with Roy and Luna but is stoking others’ ire. Democrats are already raising alarms over the plan they say falls short of a full ban on congressional stock trading.

An even more explosive issue — the Epstein files — threatens to continue dogging House GOP leaders as well, as the Justice Department is under increasing criticism across party lines for its slow and incomplete release of materials related to the late convicted sex offender.

While Congress required DOJ to make its Epstein case files fully public last month, department officials say millions of pages of records continue to be reviewed. And critics say the records that have been released have been subject to improper redactions and other irregularities.

The issue could come to a head in the coming weeks, with House Judiciary Republicans looking to schedule a routine oversight hearing with Attorney General Pam Bondi that is now expected to focus heavily on the administration’s handling of the Epstein case.

“They are blatantly ignoring the law,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who helped lead the effort to release the files and sits on the Judiciary Committee, said in an interview.

He and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who co-sponsored the legislation compelling the release of the files, have said they are preparing to push for a rare “inherent contempt” vote against Bondi that could include fines and other sanctions for DOJ’s alleged noncompliance.

If there’s any encouraging news for Johnson heading into 2026, it’s on the appropriations front.

With only a handful of legislative days left before the Jan. 30 deadline to avoid a shutdown — and with many Republicans worried about the potential for another short-term punt — the top four House and Senate appropriators have been making quiet progress on a three-bill funding package as appetites fade for allowing the government to shutter yet again.

Talks around a full-fiscal-year “minibus” that would include the Interior, Energy-Water and Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bills are close to being finalized, three other people granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations said. GOP leaders are hoping to put the package on the House floor Thursday if a deal can be reached.

In the meantime, House GOP leaders are navigating internal politics around a major bipartisan housing package the Financial Services Committee approved last month. While it remains unclear whether the House and Senate can reconcile competing housing plans, Johnson is pushing forward after Trump’s top pollster told a closed-door briefing of House Republicans last month they should focus more on housing affordability issues ahead of the midterms.

This week, House GOP leaders are planning to hold votes on a bill from Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) that would cut red tape and relax energy efficiency standards for manufactured housing as well as a measure from Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) that would codify Trump’s effort to roll back a regulation instituted under former President Joe Biden limiting water flow for shower nozzles.

But even Republican leaders’ unity-building proposals — such as highlighting the fraud convictions in Minnesota — could end up sparking fights.

A growing number of conservatives want Trump to reinstate Elon Musk in his prior role as efficiency czar to probe reports of Medicaid fraud and other related projects. But other Republicans, especially key moderates, are cool to the idea.

“We have fraud experts in the government that can do this,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said in an interview. “They should be able to do their jobs.”

Congress

Johnson says he will send housing bill to Trump on Monday

Published

9 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Speaker Mike Johsnon said he plans to send President Donald Trump a bipartisan housing bill Monday, just days after the president abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for the legislation after Congress failed to pass his elections security act.

Speaking with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Johnson said the 21st Century ROAD To Housing Act is a Republican priority for lowering costs for Americans.

“I’m going to send the bill over to him on Monday, and it will become law,” the Louisiana Republican told host Maria Bartiromo. “I certainly want him to take the biggest, boldest marker that he has and do that big Trump signature proudly on that legislation because we’re delivering for the people, and that’s what he wants to do.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Johnson’s remarks.

The bill is the product of almost a year of back-and-forth between all four congressional corners and aims to increase affordability by boosting housing supply and home ownership. It passed both chambers of Congress with wide bipartisan support.

Trump was scheduled to sign the bill into law last week but canceled the ceremony “until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency.”

Trump’s SAVE America Act would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end mail-in voting. Trump has also said he would like the bill to include prohibitions on transgender athletes competing. But Republican leaders have repeatedly indicated the legislation does not have enough votes to pass.

Congressional leaders appeared taken aback by Trump’s signing cancellation, but Johnson on Sunday said he and the president have since met in the Oval Office to discuss the housing bill “in great detail.”

“We made a lot of promises to the voters, and we’re fulfilling those every single day of this Congress,” Johnson said. “This is a big part of that because this will increase the availability, the access to more housing, bring down cost, cut regulations, do the things we know are very important for that market. The president and I talked about that at length. Of course he wants to do those things.”

But if Trump does not sign the housing bill into law within the next few days, it would still become law unless he were to veto it. Congress also has the power to override a presidential veto.

Congress

Sen. Thom Tillis rails against Trump’s fixation on voting legislation

Published

10 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Thom Tillis on Sunday expressed frustration with President Donald Trump’s continued fixation on passing the SAVE America Act.

In an interview with BLN’s “Face the Nation,” the retiring North Carolina Republican lamented “the impossible task” of implementing the requirements of the legislation ahead of November’s crucial midterms.

“Why are we doing more things to undermine our confidence in elections, rather than getting the strong message out that will win for Republicans this year?” Tillis said.

Rather than promoting the bill — which would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end widespread mail-in voting — Tillis said Republicans should tell voters about “the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America” while accepting the current voting laws.

“Win by the good results that Republicans have produced and stop undermining the confidence in the elections,” said Tillis. “This is a bedrock of our 250-year history of success as the democracy that changed the world. Let’s not mess with that between now and November.”

Trump has said the SAVE America Act is his “No. 1 priority” ahead of midterms, going so far as to abruptly cancel a bill signing for major bipartisan legislation on housing affordability until Congress passes his elections bill. But many Democrats are staunchly against the bill, arguing it could disenfranchise millions of voters, and Republican leaders in Congress have repeatedly indicated it does not have the votes to pass.

Tillis co-sponsored the original SAVE America Act but has objected to Trump’s version of the legislation, which would also bar transgender athletes from women’s sports.

It’s not the first time Tillis has clashed with Trump.

Earlier this year, Tillis blocked Trump’s Fed chair nominee, Kevin Warsh, until the Justice Department dropped an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. He has also spoken out against the Justice Department’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” calling it a “payout for punks.” And he has emerged as a fierce critic of Bill Pulte, Trump’s interim director of national intelligence.

“Let’s try and figure out a way to completely and finally end these distractions so that we can focus on the damage Democrats could do if they take the House, if they beat incumbent Republicans in the Senate. That’s what Republicans need to be talking about between now and November,” Tillis said Sunday.

Congress

Sen. Bill Cassidy on Trump: ‘Sometimes he acts as if Congress is merely an appendage’

Published

11 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bill Cassidy appeared to question President Donald Trump’s view of Congress, saying in an interview that he is not sure Trump grasps that Congress “is a separate body, separate from the presidency.”

“Sometimes he acts as if Congress is merely an appendage, and, frankly, sometimes Congress acts like it’s an appendage,” the Louisiana Republican said in a pre-taped interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday.

The latest criticism in a public clash between the two leaders, Cassidy also told host Margaret Brennan that he would be focused on affordability, including the cost of health care and groceries, if he were president.

“If I were president, I would be focused on those people that they have, my people, our people, us at the kitchen table. How do you make their life better? And that’s what I think the president should be focused on,” Cassidy said.

The relationship between Cassidy and Trump has been rocky for some time. Cassidy was one of only a handful of Republican leaders who voted to convict Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Trump and Cassidy recently clashed in a closed-door meeting between GOP leaders, with Cassidy admitting he raised his voice to “match” the president’s.

“The president said something negative about me. I received it as attempting to bully me from asking a question that I think the American people need to know, and I’m not going to be bullied,” Cassidy said at the time.

However, after receiving a special briefing from Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff, Cassidy changed his vote on a resolution designed to rein in Trump’s power to wage war against Iran.

“They said right now the negotiations are delicate, and they could collapse if they’re not nursed along in the appropriate way. I can accept that,” Cassidy said.

“That’s the reason they said for their kind of lack of being forthcoming. I can accept that, but my goal was to be briefed, to have the truth in order to make a decision for the benefit of my country, and that was satisfied.”

Still, Cassidy’s stance against Trump has cost him: After serving more than a decade in the Senate, Cassidy lost his campaign for renomination after Trump endorsed against him. Rep. Julia Letlow will be the Louisiana Republican Senate candidate this fall.