House GOP leaders are losing control of the floor to non-stop intraparty revolts ahead of the rapidly approaching deadline to avoid another shutdown.
Speaker Mike Johnson needs his ranks united in order to keep federal operations afloat after Jan. 30. But the stark reality is settling in that Republicans are stuck with an essentially unworkable margin that could derail not only their government funding plans but their entire legislative agenda.
— Hard math warning signs: “We’re totally in control of the House,” Johnson insisted Tuesday. Yet six Republican defectors sunk a bill earlier that afternoon designed to incentivize employers to offer more training and education programs — at the expense of having to offer some overtime pay, Lawrence Ukenye reports.
The measure’s collapse led leadership to scrap scheduled votes on two other labor-related bills Tuesday evening. Leaders are now expected to cancel consideration of yet another measure slated for Thursday — related to franchise stores’ liability for employee working conditions — that Republicans privately say will also fail.
It comes as Republicans have been dealing with a series of absences tightening their already threadbare majority. Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.) has returned after recovering from a recent car crash, but Reps. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) and Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) will not be in Washington for at least the rest of the week, adding up to a harrowing single-vote margin for the speaker. They’re also running a deficit following the sudden death last week of Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.).
None of this bodes well for Wednesday’s floor vote to advance the State-Foreign Operations and Financial Services funding package, as rule votes are typically party-line affairs.
— The Homeland fight: Republican leaders are on a separate uphill climb to reach a deal with Democrats on the fiscal 2026 spending bill for DHS, which stalled after an ICE agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis last week.
Top Democrats are feverishly working to put new guardrails on immigration enforcement agencies and curb President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. They’re facing the reality that the only way to do so is by working through the process to fund DHS.
They’re hoping that Republicans who also have hesitations about the DHS bill will team up with them on provisions to enforce new rules for ICE agents, like requiring them to use body cameras and banning masks.
It’s unclear, however, what concessions GOP leaders are willing to make, as there are unsavory results for each party if lawmakers can’t strike a deal. Nobody wants an extended stopgap funding measure that maintains the DHS status quo without new funding levels and policy changes.
“We’re trying to work with our colleagues. I know they’re trying to get a bill. But I’m very sensitive to the political challenges they have on this particular bill,” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters this week.
What else we’re watching:
— GOP mulls war powers off-ramp: Senate Republicans are discussing whether to use a procedural maneuver to effectively quash the Venezuela war powers resolution — challenging the resolution’s “privilege.” Under that scenario, Republicans would call up a vote on a point of order that the resolution shouldn’t enjoy a privileged status because troops are not currently engaged in hostilities. If it is approved it would effectively kick the underlying war powers resolution off the floor agenda.
— Jan. 6 committee hearing: House Judiciary’s select subcommittee on Jan. 6 will have its first hearing at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The panel is expected to scrutinize the investigations into the pipe bombs left near the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters the day before the Capitol attack in 2021.
Witnesses will include Chris Piehota, a former FBI special agent; John Nantz, a former FBI special agent; and Thomas Speciale, a former senior adviser for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Meredith Lee Hill, Jennifer Scholtes, Nicholas Wu, Katherine Tully-McManus, Jordain Carney and Lawrence Ukenye contributed to this report.
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