by Republicans may control the House, but when it comes to enacting any meaningful measure in this Congress, it falls to Democrats to provide the majority of the votes.
When President Mike Johnson pushed through a stopgap spending bill Thursday to avoid a partial government shutdown, it was the fourth time in the last year that a Republican president, facing opposition from his right wing, had to rely on Democratic votes to push through its approval. legislation necessary to avoid a calamity.
It was the latest sign of a punishing dynamic that Johnson inherited when he won the presidency in the fall. With a tiny and shrinking majority, a restless right willing to defect on important issues, and a Democratic Senate and president, Johnson presides over a House majority in name only, not a governing majority, undermining his influence.
And their control over that majority is fragile at best.
Moments before the temporary spending bill was passed Thursday, it appeared that Johnson might fail to win the support of a majority of his majority, long the informal but sacrosanct standard for determining what legislation a president would bring to a vote. of the Republican Party. It was only at the last second that a Republican lawmaker appeared to switch from “no” to “yes,” pushing him just over the threshold. One hundred and seven Republicans voted in favor of the stopgap bill and 106 opposed it, with Democrats providing the majority of votes (207) to advance the bill.
Relying on such a coalition became a well-worn move for Kevin McCarthy, the former president, who used it in May to pull the nation back from the brink of its first default, and again in September to avoid a shutdown.
Caught between a government shutdown and using the same tactic as his ousted predecessor, Johnson has now twice followed McCarthy’s lead to keep the government funded. It’s a move that has angered far-right Republicans, who had boasted earlier this year that the party’s narrow margin would force the president to form a coalition government with them. Instead, he has led two consecutive Republican speakers into the arms of Democrats.
“I think it’s a loss for the American people to join the Democrats – to form a governing coalition to do what Schumer and the Senate want to do,” Rep. Bob Good of Virginia, chairman of the Freedom Caucus, said Thursday. “We are doing that once again today. “I think that is a failure.”
However, Good and the other ultraconservatives who deposed McCarthy in October have said they are willing to give Johnson more freedom than they once gave the California Republican. Both privately and publicly, hardliners say they trust Johnson to tell them the truth (even if they don’t like it) in a way they never believed McCarthy would. And they have found solace in his evangelical Christian roots and his long history as an ultraconservative activist.
Last week, Good called it a “ridiculous assumption” that “the leader of our party for two and a half months was treated the same as someone who was in that position for years.”
For his part, Johnson (who frequently reminds reporters who ask him about criticism from right-wing lawmakers that he considers himself one of them) has said he has been treading difficult ground.
“Everyone understands the reality of where we are,” Johnson said at a news conference this week. “House Republicans have second-smallest majority in history.” And he added: “We are not going to get everything we want. But let’s stick to fundamental conservative principles. We are going to advance in tax administration. I consider this a down payment for real reform.”
That doesn’t mean I expect an easy ride.
On several occasions since Republicans took control of the House, the president has had to rely on Democrats to even bring legislation to the House floor because conservative rebels have routinely broken with tradition and opposed measures. procedures that allow a bill to be considered.
Johnson has been forced to table both stopgap spending bills to avoid a floor shutdown under a special protocol that requires a House supermajority for passage.
Some ultraconservative Republicans suggested Thursday that they could restart their blockade after the stopgap bill.
“Johnson inherited a disaster,” said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Arkansas, ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. “He is our coach at the moment. And he’s making the best plays he can given the circumstances and headwinds he faces. Him doing the best he can. And it should be our collective, shared responsibility to make him successful. And we’re not going to do that.”
Democrats have been more than happy, particularly in an election year, to underscore their willingness to save bills to keep the government open. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, has repeatedly reminded the Senate president for months that any legislation that becomes law must be bipartisan.
And Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader, often takes the opportunity to describe how Democrats have been at the forefront of such efforts “because of the chaos, dysfunction and extremism on the other side of the aisle.”
“They are built to be a minority,” said Rep. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee. “They’re built to always say no, they’re built to always obstruct, and the only way to pass meaningful things here, like keeping the government funded or raising the debt ceiling, is with Democratic votes.”
Annie Karni and Carl Hulse contributed reports.
