Republican Honeymoon With Mike Johnson Is Over

House Speaker Mike Johnson united his often-divided Republican colleagues in a rare event last week, but the GOP honeymoon was short-lived.

House Republicans returned to Congress on Monday to continue their intra-party feuds on government spending, aid to Ukraine, the southern border and the possible expulsion of Representative George Santos.

The various battles within the House GOP seemed to fall to the wayside last week when the entire conference rallied behind Johnson's speakership bid, electing the Louisiana Republican on the first round of voting. His easy accession to the gavel painted Johnson as a unifying force for a party that had spent more than three weeks struggling to find a new leader after Kevin McCarthy was ousted by eight of his fellow Republicans.

Despite a blissful start, Johnson is facing a rocky beginning to his first full week as House Speaker.

Expelling Santos

A group of freshman New York Republicans are preparing to introduce an expulsion resolution this week against Santos amid new fraud charges accusing the Long Island Republican of fraudulently charging his donors without their authorization and of fabricating campaign reports that listed false or stolen contributions.

There have only been five members of Congress who have been expelled from the House in U.S. history. In order to oust Santos, his colleagues would need the support of a two-thirds majority in the chamber, 290 votes in favor of expelling him.

The group has said they believe they are close to getting the votes they need to successfully oust Santos, who has denied any wrongdoing and refused to step down, but Johnson is not among the camp that is ready to push their colleague out. Republican leaders have continued to back Santos, saying there shouldn't be a resolution to expel him until he is convicted.

"George Santos is due due process, right?" Johnson told Fox News's Sean Hannity on Thursday. "We have to allow due process to play itself out, that's what our system of justice is for.. He's not convicted, he's charged. So, if we're gonna expel someone from Congress just because they're charged with a crime or accused, that's a problem."

Stressing the Republicans' razor-thin majority in the House, Johnson said, "We have no margin for error."

Representative Marc Molinaro told CNN's Manu Raju on Monday that although he understands "hesitance" to expel Santos, the situation involving the congressman is "a clear case of an individual who used every lie and misdeed in order to attain the very office that he holds."

Government Spending

The House has been able to return to its legislative duties now that a new Speaker has been chosen, but the time hasn't stopped ticking. The federal government is facing another risk of a shutdown on November 17, when the short-term spending bill that extended the September 30 deadline by 45 days will expire.

Johnson has signaled that he'd be willing to pass another similar measure that will push a shutdown deadline out again to January or April so that Republicans will have more time to pass their full-year funding bills. But the Speaker will need to fend off a growing consensus from his far-right flank against continuing resolutions.

"I don't even want to think about something lasting until January or April. That would be folly," Representative Andy Biggs told Politico, adding that there are at least five Republicans who don't want to see another stopgap measure into January. With only a four-seat majority, that would be enough House Republicans to tank Johnson's idea.

Ukraine Aid

Johnson has made aid to Israel a top priority. His first action as the new House leader was a resolution supporting the country amid the war with Hamas and his first trip as speaker was this weekend when he traveled to Las Vegas to speak with the Republican Jewish Coalition.

He's also vowed to move forward with a $14.5 billion standalone aid package to Israel, leaving Ukraine out of the assistance.

"There are lots of things going on around the world that we have to address, and we will," Johnson told Hannity on Sunday. "But right now, what's happening in Israel takes the immediate attention, and I think we've got to separate that and get it through."

The White House has asked Congress to provide more than $105 billion for a national security package that includes aid to both Israel and Ukraine. But it's not just Democrats who want to see more assistance to Ukraine. A majority of House Republicans voted to support funding for Ukraine last month, voting down three amendments to an appropriations bill that would have weakened aid to Ukraine.

"For many members and for their constituents, a vote on funding for Ukraine as part of the ongoing war is a matter of conscience," House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole said at an emergency committee meeting last month. "Shifting these funds out of the appropriations process will allow those for whom this is a question of conscience to vote to support our troops while also allowing all members to vote on providing funding for Ukraine."

U.S.-Mexico Border

Some House Republicans have implored Johnson to use Ukraine as a bargaining chip for border funds to help the influx of migrants crossing the border from Mexico.

"Democrats want Ukraine aid more than Republicans want it. Republicans want border security more than Democrats want it. So we need to make a deal," Representative Dan Crenshaw told reporters last week.

But while Johnson has shown support for those types of negotiations and called for Congress to address immigration, he's faced calls from conservatives to argue to address those domestic policies before tackling issues overseas.