{"id":21977,"date":"2026-04-28T12:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-mike-johnsons-week-unravels\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T12:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:02:09","slug":"capitol-agenda-mike-johnsons-week-unravels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-mike-johnsons-week-unravels\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Mike Johnson\u2019s week unravels"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s week just started and it\u2019s already falling apart.<\/p>\n

Internal GOP strife forced Republican leaders late Monday to scrap a House Rules meeting that was supposed to set up critical floor votes on an extension of the Section 702 spy law, immigration enforcement funding and a farm bill. They planned to reconvene around 8 a.m. and try again.<\/p>\n

At least 10 Republicans are threatening to oppose the rule vote teeing up the legislation \u2014 currently scheduled for 4:30 p.m. \u2014 over problems with Johnson\u2019s three-year Section 702 reauthorization. And there are other issues with Republicans\u2019 budget reconciliation plan and the farm bill. <\/p>\n

Johnson is hoping he can pass the 702 extension shortly after 9 p.m., following a state dinner with King Charles III.<\/p>\n

The fight over the spy law is more or less where it was earlier this month, when GOP hard-liners tanked a vote on an extension<\/a>. They don\u2019t believe leadership\u2019s latest attempt at a compromise would go far enough to shield Americans from being caught up in warrantless surveillance under Section 702, which allows such surveillance of foreigners abroad. They also want assurances that there will be a ban on central bank digital currency.<\/p>\n

The Senate is preparing to advance a three-year 702 extension around noon Tuesday as the House GOP stalemate threatens a lapse after Thursday\u2019s deadline.<\/p>\n

In a private House GOP meeting Monday night, GOP leaders tried to push Republicans to pass Johnson\u2019s latest proposal as is. That suggestion only enraged some GOP hard-liners who are still opposed to the plan they argue is just a rework of the last one they tanked.<\/p>\n

The farm bill is rife with GOP fights over amendments.<\/p>\n

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna threatened late Monday to \u201cslaughter the farm bill\u201d if pesticide provisions weren\u2019t stripped out. MAHA advocates like Luna say the bill would shield pesticide companies from lawsuits, while farm state Republicans argue the measure would clarify labeling for critical and widely-used farm inputs.<\/p>\n

Another farm bill problem is the continuing GOP fight over ethanol. Rules Committee Republican Reps. Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota, Randy Feenstra of Iowa and other midwestern GOP members are pushing for a vote on year-round sales of the E15 gasoline-ethanol blend.<\/p>\n

As tempers flared, one Republican involved in the talks said the ethanol Republicans \u201cwent all in on an amendment\u201d that failed to get consensus.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow they have to get something or else it\u2019s probably lights-out for Feenstra\u2019s governor bid and maybe a few House seats,\u201d the person said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe incompetence is stunning,\u201d House Rules ranking member Jim McGovern said in an interview. \u201cWe’re in the same place as we were last week.\u201d<\/p>\n

What else we’re watching:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 King’s speech prep<\/b>: In his 20-minute address to Congress Tuesday, King Charles III<\/b> is expected to tout<\/u><\/a> the U.S.-U.K. relationship as one of \u201creconciliation and renewal\u201d and \u201cone of the greatest alliances in human history\u201d \u2014 hitting a message that the two nations can promote security and prosperity for the world if they defend shared democratic values. Ahead of his 3 p.m. remarks, the king is scheduled to meet with the four top congressional leaders and have photo ops.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Don\u2019t bank on the ballroom<\/b>: Republicans are clamoring for President Donald<\/b> Trump<\/b> to get his ballroom in the wake of Saturday\u2019s shooting, but bills to greenlight it are going nowhere fast in Congress<\/a>. Senate Democrats are unlikely to support a ballroom bill, and if Republicans try to go it alone they\u2019ll face procedural and political hurdles that would make it difficult to tuck into their own party-line immigration enforcement bill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s week just started and it\u2019s already falling apart. Internal GOP strife forced Republican leaders late Monday to scrap a House Rules meeting that was supposed to set up critical floor votes on an extension of the Section 702 spy law, immigration enforcement funding and a farm bill. They planned to reconvene around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}