Mike Johnson Suffers Defeat as Republicans Revolt

Republicans blocked Speaker Mike Johnson from moving forward with resolutions disapproving of President Joe Biden's administration rules in a revolt against the spending deal he made with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Johnson and Schumer announced a tentative deal Sunday that would establish an overall spending level of nearly $1.66 trillion in the 2024 fiscal year. The proposed plan reflects the deal struck by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year—the same deal that ultimately led to his ousting in the fall.

Although Johnson has stressed that he wants to avoid a government shutdown as the deadline looms less than two weeks away, he faces critics from hard-line Republicans arguing that the topline figure undercuts conservative objectives and have openly threatened to introduce another motion to vacate that could remove Johnson from his post.

On Wednesday, in protest of Johnson's spending deal, 12 Republicans voted against a procedural vote on an unrelated bill, preventing the chamber from debating and voting on the measures.

It's long been standard procedure for the majority to pass the rules and move forward with debate. From 1995 until 2022, a rules vote had only been defeated eight times. That includes six times under former Speaker Newt Gingrich's four-year run as leader of the House Republicans and two times under former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert's eight years as speaker.

But, recently, it's been a way for members of Congress to send a message to their party leaders. In eight months as speaker, Kevin McCarthy lost three rule votes. Wednesday marked the second time Republicans have defeated a rule vote since Johnson took over as speaker at the end of October.

Republicans have called into question Johnson's leadership and Wednesday's vote gave ammunition to his critics who argue he's been ineffective in unifying the divided Republican caucus. Some legislators are considering taking the job away from Johnson.

Representative Victoria Spartz, an Indiana Republican, told Newsweek on Tuesday night that "people here and there" have been seriously considering ousting the speaker.

"Ultimately, it's up to us members to be able to pull the gun," Spartz said. "It's not even just the Speaker. We'll have to figure it out and be strong. Ultimately, Mike [Johnson] needs to show that he can win. He definitely inherited a difficult situation, so we'll judge the result."

Newsweek has reached out to Johnson via email for comment.

Journalist and political analyst Jake Sherman shared the vote on X, formerly Twitter, adding that the House is "proving to be ungovernable" once again.

"OFFICIAL: @SpeakerJohnson's leadership lost a rule vote on the floor.

"12 conservatives voted against the procedural measure, as a protest against Johnson's spending deal with @SenSchumer.Vote was 203-216. The House, once again, is proving to be ungovernable."

Among those who opposed the procedural vote were Representative Chip Roy of Texas, Bob Good of Virginia and Andy Biggs of Arizona.

In addition, Fox News Reporter Liz Elkind said, "Looks like Chip Roy and Mike Johnson are arguing on the House floor right now, lots of animated hand movements."

Meanwhile, Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi noted the move, calling the House GOP's full of "dysfunction and chaos."

"So far, it seems House Republicans are intent on having 2024 in Congress look a lot like it did in 2023: Full of dysfunction and chaos," Krishnamoorthi wrote on X.

This comes after Representative Warren Davidson stormed out of the House GOP meeting telling reporters on the Hill, "I'm not gonna sit in there and listen to that drivel because he has no plans to do anything except surrender."

In addition, when asked whether Johnson should lose his job over the spending deal, Davidson said, "He should have never been hired."

The Ohio Republican continued to speak out against Johnson's deal, arguing that the entire Republican Party would be more willing to speak out about their opposition to the deal if it was not being spearheaded by a Republican.

"If Hakeem Jeffries announced this deal with Schumer, Republicans would be united in opposition," Davidson wrote in a post on X. "It spends more than the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act agreed to spend. And, it fails to deliver ANYTHING on @HouseGOP policy promises."

Update 1/11/24, 12:45 p.m. ET: This article was updated with a comment from Victoria Spartz. The headline was also updated.