{"id":331034,"date":"2025-12-05T00:42:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T00:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/331034\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T00:42:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T00:42:13","slug":"mike-johnson-asks-republicans-to-keep-concerns-private","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/331034\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Johnson asks Republicans to keep concerns private"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington (AP) \u2014 House Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a> is imploring his fellow Republicans to stop venting their frustrations in public and bring their complaints to him directly. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to get upset about things. That\u2019s part of the process,\u201d Johnson told reporters Thursday. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t bother me. But when there is a conflict or concern, I always ask all members to come to me, don\u2019t go to social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Increasingly, they\u2019re ignoring him.<\/p>\n

Cracks inside the GOP conference were stark this week as a member of Johnson\u2019s own leadership team openly accused him of lying, rank-and-file Republicans acted unilaterally to force votes and a leadership-backed bill faltered. It\u2019s all underscored by growing worries<\/a> that the party is on a path towards losing the majority next year. <\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly think that the current leadership and specifically the speaker needs to change the way that he approaches the job,\u201d GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley of California said Thursday. <\/p>\n

Kiley, who has grown vocally critical of Johnson after the GOP\u2019s nationwide redistricting campaign backfired<\/a> in California, said the speaker has been critical of rank-and-file Republicans, so \u201che needs to be prepared to accept any criticism that comes with the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think, unfortunately, there\u2019s been ample reason for criticism,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

GOP lawmaker asks, \u2018Why do we have to legislate by discharge petitions?\u2019<\/p>\n

For the first part of 2025, Johnson held together his slim Republican majority in the House to pass a number of President Donald Trump\u2019s priorities, including his massive spending and tax cut plan<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But after Johnson kept members out of session<\/a> for nearly two months during the government shutdown, they returned anxious to work on priorities that had been backlogged for months \u2014 and with the reality that their time in the majority may be running out.<\/p>\n

First was a high-profile discharge petition to force the vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, which succeeded<\/a> after it reached the 218-signature threshold. Other lawmakers are launching more petitions, a step that used to be considered a major affront to party leadership. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe discharge petition, I think, always shows a bit of frustration,\u201d said GOP Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota.<\/p>\n

Another discharge petition on a bill that would repeal Trump\u2019s executive order to end collective bargaining with federal labor unions reached the signature threshold last month, with support from seven Republicans. <\/p>\n

And this week, GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida brought a long-anticipated discharge petition for a bill to bar members of Congress from trading stock<\/a>. A number of Republicans have already signed on, in addition to Democrats. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnxious is what happens when you get nervous. I\u2019m not nervous. I\u2019m pissed,\u201d Luna wrote on social media late Thursday, responding to leadership comments that she was overly anxious. <\/p>\n

GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina signed both Luna\u2019s petition and the one to release the Epstein files. She told reporters Thursday that she expressed her frustrations directly to Johnson in a phone call, and in what she described as \u201ca deeply personal, deeply passionate letter, that we are legislating by discharge petition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a very slim majority, but I want President Trump\u2019s executive orders codified,\u201d Mace said. \u201cI want to see his agenda implemented. Why do we have to legislate by discharge petitions?\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaker Johnson\u2019s own leadership team is going after him<\/p>\n

At the center of Johnson\u2019s pleas for members to bring concerns to him privately instead of on social media is the chairwoman of House Republican leadership, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Angered that a provision she championed wasn\u2019t included in a defense authorization bill, Stefanik blasted Johnson\u2019s claims that he wasn\u2019t aware of the provision as \u201cmore lies from the Speaker.\u201d She conducted a series of media interviews criticizing Johnson, including one with The Wall Street Journal in which she said he was a \u201cpolitical novice\u201d who wouldn\u2019t be reelected speaker if the vote were held today. <\/p>\n

Johnson told reporters Thursday that he had a \u201cgreat talk\u201d with Stefanik the night before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called her and I said, \u2018Why wouldn\u2019t you just come to me, you know?\u2019\u201d Johnson said. \u201cSo we had some intense fellowship about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if she had apologized for calling him a liar, Johnson said, \u201cUm, you ask Elise about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Illinois Rep. Mary Miller released a statement Thursday providing support for Johnson, saying that while there are differences among members \u201cour mission is bigger than any one individual or headline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats, who have had leadership criticisms of their own, have reveled in the GOP\u2019s disarray. House Republican leaders attempted to muscle through an NCAA-backed bill to regulate college sports after the White House endorsed it, before support within Republican ranks crumbled<\/a>. Some GOP lawmakers pointedly said they had bigger priorities before the end of the year. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that Congress can\u2019t legislate, it\u2019s House Republicans that can\u2019t legislate. It\u2019s the gang that can\u2019t legislate straight. They continue to take the \u2018my way or the highway\u2019 approach,\u201d said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. <\/p>\n

There is underlying GOP unease about losing the chamber in 2026<\/p>\n

All eyes in the U.S. House were on a special election Tuesday night in a Tennessee district<\/a> that a Republican had won in 2024 by nearly 21 percentage points, with Trump carrying the area by a similar margin. <\/p>\n

Republicans hoped the contest would help them regain momentum after losing several marquee races across the country in November. Democrats, meanwhile, argued that keeping the race close would signal strong political winds at their backs ahead of next year\u2019s midterms, which will determine control of both chambers.<\/p>\n

Republican Matt Van Epps ultimately won<\/a> by nearly 9 percentage points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think to have that district that went by over 20 points a year ago be down to nine, it should be a wakeup call,\u201d said GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska.<\/p>\n

He argued that Republicans need \u201cto get some economic progress, like immediately,\u201d adding that \u201cthe president and his team have got to come to grips\u201d that tariffs are not driving economic growth. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel like they\u2019re going to have to get out of their bubble,\u201d Bacon said of the White House. \u201cGet out of your bubble. The economy needs improving. Fix Ukraine and we do need a temporary health care fix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bacon is among a growing number of House Republicans who have announced they will retire after this term. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia abruptly declared<\/a> last month that she would resign in January, citing multiple reasons, including that \u201cthe legislature has been mostly sidelined\u201d this year.<\/p>\n

Those retirements add to the GOP\u2019s challenge in holding the House, as the party must now defend more open seats. Republicans have also seen a redistricting battle \u2014 sparked by Trump\u2019s pressure on Texas Republicans and then more states \u2014 backfire in part. In November, California voters handed Democrats a victory by approving a new congressional map.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s living in a fantasy world if you think that this redistricting war is what\u2019s going to save the majority,\u201d said Kiley, now at risk of losing his seat after redistricting in California. <\/p>\n

He added, \u201cI think what would make a lot bigger impact is if the House played a proactive role in actually putting forward legislation that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press reporter Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Washington (AP) \u2014 House Speaker Mike Johnson is imploring his fellow Republicans to stop venting their frustrations in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,167802,2356,2662,1340,26195,12,11811,2822,2808,793,12481,14825,59447,9597,2077,152186,6098,13409,167803,165999,13410,104647,2005,3,111,12484,8643,5614,2219,9293,3438,21,19,22,20,25,24,800],"class_list":["post-331034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-anna-paulina-luna","tag-california","tag-college-sports","tag-congress","tag-don-bacon","tag-donald-trump","tag-elise-stefanik","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-general-news","tag-hakeem-jeffries","tag-jeffrey-epstein","tag-kevin-kiley","tag-la-state-wire","tag-legislation","tag-local-news-for-apple","tag-louisiana","tag-marjorie-taylor-greene","tag-mary-miller","tag-matt-van-epps","tag-mike-johnson","tag-nancy-mace","tag-new-york","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-redistricting","tag-sc-state-wire","tag-south-carolina","tag-tennessee","tag-u-s-government-shutdown","tag-u-s-republican-party","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}