The road ahead will be particularly treacherous for House Speaker Mike Johnson after concluding the spending battle for the current fiscal year, and he has little room for error in his fractured Republican majority.
Congress is rumbling toward lingering problems that were put on hold amid a protracted spending fight that was settled over the weekend with the passage of the final $1.2 trillion bill, bringing the total approved government funding to $1.66 trillion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
Mr. Johnson’s most immediate threat is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has put the wheels in motion for a vote to eject him from the speaker job.
Ms. Greene, Georgia Republican, filed a motion to vacate the chair while the speaker worked to narrowly pass the $1.2 trillion package on Friday, arguing that he sold out Republicans to Democrats for the sake of avoiding a partial government shutdown.
“The Republican Speaker of the House handed over every ounce of negotiating power to [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats and went ahead and funded the government when this was our point of leverage,” Ms. Greene said. “Republicans had the power of the purse. This was our power. This was our leverage. This is our chance to secure the border and he didn’t do it.”
Ms. Greene’s effort to boot the speaker in the same fashion as former Speaker Kevin McCarthy — a move she rejected in October — is more of a warning, she said, and it won’t be immediately considered unless she forces a vote when lawmakers return from a two-week recess on April 9.
SEE ALSO: Kevin McCarthy says Marjorie Taylor Greene is bluffing to oust Speaker Mike Johnson
While divisions run rampant in the House GOP and some in the conference are dissatisfied with Mr. Johnson’s performance, there is little appetite to replace him.
Republicans do not want to relive the three-week drama of replacing Mr. McCarthy. Some worry that booting Mr. Johnson would potentially install House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York as speaker.
Others blame the GOP’s right flank for undermining every move Mr. Johnson makes.
“The speaker walked into a very difficult situation as a result of the vacating of the chair with Kevin McCarthy and has done a good job negotiating on behalf of the conference, while still being undermined by people on the right, who failed to realize that their conduct has actually weakened the hand of the conference,” said Rep. Mike Lawler, New York Republican.
After passing the $1.2 trillion funding package, which fuels two-thirds of the government, Mr. Johnson now has his sights set elsewhere: Passing border security policy.
While the spending bill included a boost to Immigration and Customs Enforcement beds and funding for 22,000 border patrol agents, Republicans criticized the measure for lacking real border policy changes.
“We will introduce a series of meaningful bills to begin to fix the problem, and we welcome sensible Democrats in the House and Senate to join us,” Mr. Johnson said.
Then there is Mr. Johnson’s Ukraine problem. National security hawks have pressured the speaker for months to consider Ukraine aid, which he said would happen once the spending fight was over. The speaker said that the House would take “necessary steps” to address foreign aid in the coming weeks.
Congress must also move forward with how to handle reforms in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Section 702, which grants the government key spying powers and is set to expire in April.
Mr. Johnson will have to hit all of those problems with the specter of his ouster hanging over his head, and with a historically slim majority that will wither to one vote when Rep. Mike Gallagher, Wisconsin Republican, leaves on April 19.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly reported the end of the fiscal year. It ends Sept. 30.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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