\n Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.\n <\/p>\n
\n But now, the battered House leader is entering what could be the most difficult stretch of his speakership \u2014 facing attacks from all sides with little reinforcement from his most important ally, President Donald Trump<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n His job is safe, for now, since House Republicans have no appetite for a nasty battle to replace the Louisiana Republican with their slim majority<\/a>. But whether he can remain the leader of his conference after the midterms is not yet certain and very well could rest on whether Trump wants to keep him.\n <\/p>\n \n Conservative as well as centrist Republicans are privately demanding major shifts in their party leader\u2019s tactics \u2014 with some no longer afraid of calling Johnson out publicly<\/a> and using him as a political punching bag to air their own grievances, giving him little room to maneuver.\n <\/p>\n \n The Republican leader and his team have been inundated in recent days by irate members who are insisting he change course before the critical 2026 midterm year, approaching him on the floor, demanding private meetings and phoning his leadership team, according to multiple people familiar with the conversations. They want Johnson to take a far more aggressive approach with putting bills on the floor, particularly on the economy and emphasizing \u201caffordability\u201d<\/a> \u2014 and put the GOP back on offense politically and deflect the onslaught of Democratic attacks.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI certainly think that the current leadership, and specifically the speaker, needs to change the way that he approaches the job. We need to actually go back to leading the House of Representatives,\u201d said Rep. Kevin Kiley, a vulnerable California Republican who has emerged as one of the speaker\u2019s most outspoken critics.\n <\/p>\n \n In one recent private conversation with a GOP lawmaker, Johnson was told his leadership was \u201cslipping away,\u201d that the frustration members are feeling is \u201cboiling over\u201d and that \u201cmorale has never been lower.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Johnson\u2019s headaches have been accumulating for weeks. His own members are fighting to take control of the floor using arcane procedural tools to advance their own agenda. They\u2019re blaming him for a nationwide redistricting battle they fear will backfire on their party. They\u2019re angry that the House remained out of session for nearly two months during the record-breaking government shutdown, a strategic decision Johnson made in his fight against Senate Democrats.\n <\/p>\n \n More immediately, GOP leaders still lack a plan to address enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies<\/a> that are set to expire at the end of this month, with Johnson\u2019s own members telling him he\u2019s running out of time to make a play call. But his conference\u2019s warring wings are at sharp odds on how to proceed on the potent election-year issue of health care.\n <\/p>\n \n These frustrations are coming to a head with the GOP itself in a state of crisis: Their president\u2019s approval ratings are sinking.<\/a> The party\u2019s signature agenda legislation \u2013 Trump\u2019s \u201cBig, Beautiful Bill\u201d \u2013 sucked up months of attention and dominated debate in the Capitol. But since Trump\u2019s sweeping domestic policy bill became law, Johnson\u2019s House has been consumed with a battle over releasing the Jeffrey Epstein case files \u2014 a law that was enacted over his furious objections<\/a> \u2014 and the 43-day government shutdown. And his leadership team has yet to put forward an agenda for his conference to pursue for the months ahead.\n <\/p>\n \n With the midterms fast approaching, it will also be more challenging to find consensus on any new legislative priorities. But as 2026 nears, members are concerned that they\u2019re losing ground on their economic message, while Trump has been distracted with an array of controversies and left Congress to figure out its next steps.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhat I\u2019m trying to stress to everyone in our conference is that we need to go big or go home. The American people are expecting us to deliver and we can\u2019t tinker around the edge, particularly when it comes to health care,\u201d GOP Rep. Eric Burlison, a hard-right Missouri Republican, told CNN. \u201cI think we can easily do that if we just have the guts to do it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cBeing speaker is hard. It\u2019s not an easy job. It might be the worst job in politics to be honest with you,\u201d added GOP Rep. Byron Donalds. \u201cBut what I would say for the speaker is just make quick decisions.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Johnson\u2019s allies don\u2019t dispute the poor mood in the conference, though they believe voters will appreciate the GOP\u2019s tax and spending cuts legislation <\/a>more as midterm messaging ramps up. They acknowledge that the House GOP\u2019s biggest hurdle is its slim margins, which have left Johnson with almost no room to maneuver.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou get through it one day at a time and one vote at a time,\u201d House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole told CNN, praising Johnson and his team for effectively passing an entire GOP agenda in a single bill earlier this year \u2014 even when \u201cyou don\u2019t have a lot to work with.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But Johnson has Trump\u2019s support and the comfort of knowing that no one else is vying for the job.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cNo, I\u2019m not worried about my standing at all,\u201d Johnson said on Wednesday, downplaying recent comments from GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik that he wouldn\u2019t have the votes to remain in the job if one were held now.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe are moving forward with this agenda. You can talk to individual members. Look, we have a large body. There\u2019s 220 or so people in this conference, and lots of different opinions. Everybody\u2019s not delighted with every decision every day. But that\u2019s, that\u2019s Congress. That\u2019s the way the system works,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n \n Asked if he planned to run again for speaker or minority leader in the next Congress, Johnson was bullish: \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d he told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n Some of Johnson\u2019s allies are sympathetic to his dilemma.\n <\/p>\n \n GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk compared being House speaker to \u201cherding ravenous tigers\u201d and added: \u201cI mean you didn\u2019t see people lining up for it last time. It\u2019s a thankless job. It really is.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma offered another colorful comparison: \u201cMy grandfather used to have a phrase about putting tomcats in a gunny sack and giving it a shake.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Johnson\u2019s allies say frustration toward the speaker is often par for the course in Congress, and that his strategy of allowing members to drive the process, while sometimes slow, at least is better than trying to steamroll members.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cToo many leaders in the past have tried to short circuit the process and it never works out very well,\u201d House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington told CNN. \u201cNot saying it\u2019s easy, I\u2019m just saying you\u2019ve got to let members work through this, and that\u2019s what\u2019s happening right now.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \n It set the tone for what many found to be a particularly frustrating week.\n <\/p>\n \n Instead of voting on a bill that would reflect the GOP economic agenda, members were perplexed to find that the main bill of the week would be an attempt to regulate college athletics. That bill ultimately got pulled from the floor over party differences, in another example of how an unruly conference has created headaches for leadership.\n <\/p>\n \n Behind the scenes, Johnson heard from multiple members this week urging him to make a decision on a health care plan.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI spoke briefly to the speaker yesterday that we need to do something on health care. And he said that they\u2019re coming up with a plan,\u201d GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez, who said he has confidence in Johnson, told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe\u2019re always second guessing. But doubting him? There are people that want something done and are not seeing, for them, they\u2019re not seeing progress. But when he tells me that \u2018Hey, they\u2019re working on it, they\u2019re working on a plan,\u2019 I have confidence in him,\u201d Gimenez added.\n <\/p>\n \n Johnson vowed on Thursday that he will put forward his party\u2019s plan next week. But many of his own members aren\u2019t clear what will be included, privately complaining that his leadership team has waited far too long and now has little chance of staving off the health care cliff before December 31. Few members expect the House GOP\u2019s plan to include any version of extending the enhanced subsidies<\/a>, which will result in spiking costs for millions of Americans.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to get consensus on it. It\u2019s a complicated matter. Lots of opinions on it,\u201d Johnson told reporters Thursday, summing up where talks were. He said he hopes to have a plan by early next week.\n <\/p>\n
On Tuesday, in their first week back from the Thanksgiving break, members huddled for their usual, weekly closed-door meeting but many walked away without being given the opportunity to speak their mind, multiple GOP lawmakers told CNN.\n <\/p>\n