\n A new headache is emerging for House Speaker Mike Johnson.\n <\/p>\n
\n For years, GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, one of President Donald Trump\u2019s most vocal allies in Congress, had been trying to pass legislation in response to the FBI\u2019s investigation into Trump\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. With Republican control of Congress and Trump in the White House, Stefanik saw this as her only opportunity to pass the legislation and deliver a win for the president and his allies, who have spent years trying to denigrate the Russia investigation.\n <\/p>\n
\n The provision would require the FBI to notify Congress when opening a counterintelligence investigation into presidential and federal candidates seeking office, and some Republicans were trying attach it to the must-pass annual defense bill that lawmakers are trying to approve by the end of the month.\n <\/p>\n
\n But Stefanik announced Monday<\/a> that congressional leaders were keeping her provision out of the sweeping defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act.\n <\/p>\n \n With the provision stripped out, Stefanik, a senior member of both the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees, said she would vote against the NDAA for the first time in her political career.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI just walked out of a briefing on this issue this morning CONFIRMING everything I posted yesterday. That yes, in fact, the Speaker is blocking my provision to root out the illegal weaponization that led to Crossfire Hurricane, Arctic Frost, and more,\u201d the congresswoman wrote on X<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n She added that \u201cthis is an easy one. This bill is DOA unless this provision gets added in as it was passed out of committee.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Stefanik\u2019s withdrawn support could pose a problem for Johnson should more Republicans follow suit. At present, the speaker can only lose two Republicans on any party-line vote with his razor-thin House majority.\n <\/p>\n \n On Tuesday, Johnson denied and downplayed Stefanik\u2019s claims.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAll of that is false. I don\u2019t exactly know why Elise won\u2019t just call me. I texted her yesterday. She\u2019s upset one of her provisions is not being made I think into the NDAA. I explained to her on text message since I heard this yesterday, I was campaigning in Tennessee, and I wrote her and said, \u2018What are you talking about? This hasn\u2019t even made it to my level,\u2019\u201d the speaker told reporters Tuesday.\n <\/p>\n \n Johnson said the ranking members in both chambers didn\u2019t agree with the measure, leading to its removal, but he argued that \u201cit doesn\u2019t mean it can\u2019t become law or even that that is a final decision.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The speaker added that he supports the provision. \u201cI mean, I would vote for it. I think it\u2019s smart, and I\u2019m not sure exactly why it wasn\u2019t included, so I don\u2019t know why she\u2019s frustrated with me. I literally had nothing to do with it, but I\u2019m happy to roll up my sleeves and help her,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n But Stefanik only doubled down on social media<\/a> \u2014 and even quoted the text message she said she had received from the speaker.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cJust more lies from the Speaker,\u201d Stefanik said in response to Johnson\u2019s comments. \u201cThe Speaker texted me yesterday claiming he \u2018knew nothing about it.\u2019 Yeah right. This is his preferred tactic to tell Members when he gets caught torpedoing the Republican agenda. It wasn\u2019t on your radar? This is the ONLY provision in the bill to root out the deep state rot. This is not regular order.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The spat speaks to the broader frustrations brewing between Republican lawmakers and Johnson.\n <\/p>\n \n The speaker is facing a growing list of issues as morale in the House GOP conference reaches a new low. Party infighting has increased in recent weeks as Johnson and his team has struggled to maintain control of the floor and members have felt more emboldened<\/a> to buck party leadership and force votes on their own priorities, including a spate of votes to attack their colleagues<\/a>. Then there\u2019s the shocking resignation announcement<\/a> from a vocal Trump ally-turned-critic, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has made clear she won\u2019t be quiet on her way out in January.\n <\/p>\n \n Stefanik and Johnson have a long history of working together.\n <\/p>\n \n They both served on Trump\u2019s defense team during the president\u2019s first impeachment trial, where Trump was ultimately acquitted by the Senate. And in their early years in the House, they often found themselves on the same side of an issue. Stefanik was in House GOP leadership when Johnson became speaker.\n <\/p>\n \n But when the White House pulled Stefanik\u2019s nomination to be US ambassador to the United Nations in March amid concerns over slim margins in the House, the relationship between the two GOP leaders grew more contentious.\n <\/p>\n \n Stefanik is now running for governor of New York. With more than a combined $13 million cash on hand, Stefanik has tapped a number of former Trump advisers and longtime aides who worked in finance, communications and operations roles to help launch her campaign.\n <\/p>\n \n This story has been updated with additional details.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new headache is emerging for House Speaker Mike Johnson. For years, GOP Rep. 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