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Johnson’s FISA adventure nears an end. But there’s more fun ahead

Austin Scott gets Good’s goat

How AI is revolutionizing health care

THE TOP

Johnson’s FISA adventure nears an end. But there’s more fun ahead

Happy Friday morning.

It took him months, but Speaker Mike Johnson is poised to get a win today on a critical national security surveillance bill. The House looks set to reauthorize FISA for two years despite strong opposition, especially on the right.

It was a difficult journey to get here. This is Johnson’s fourth attempt to push through a FISA bill. In fact, the whole episode is a perfect illustration of what Johnson must go through to get anything done — and what happens if he doesn’t.

To get to this vote, the House Republican leadership had to get buy-in from former President Donald Trump, as well as hardline conservatives. GOP leaders alerted Trump on Thursday that they were abandoning a five-year FISA reauthorization for the two-year bill. This new deadline would, in theory, give Trump the ability to rewrite FISA if he’s elected president in November. That appears to have satisfied Trump and his allies in the House Freedom Caucus.

At 4:30 p.m. today, Johnson is scheduled to appear with Trump at Mar-a-Lago to introduce a bill that would make it illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections.

Of course, it’s long been illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections, and there’s virtually no evidence it happens, despite Trump’s claims otherwise. And a Trump-Johnson proposal like this will never pass the Senate.

Johnson, however, needs Trump’s backing both on the campaign trail and inside the House GOP conference. Which is why today’s event is important for the speaker.

We want to run through a few other challenging dynamics for House Republicans you should be aware of.

1) Ukraine. Initially, senior GOP leadership sources believed that Johnson would release a Ukraine aid bill next week. Johnson says there are lots of conversations taking place, although senior GOP committee and leadership aides say they’ve been stunned by the lack of progress internally.

We asked a senior House GOP aide involved in these matters whether they’d seen any text for a Ukraine bill. “The Senate bill,” the aide responded, meaning the $95 billion Senate foreign aid package. The White House and Hill Democrats believe Johnson will eventually relent and put that bill on the floor.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise insists conversations are ongoing over Ukraine — and the Senate bill is out of the question.

The longer Johnson waits on Ukraine, the more difficult it gets. It’s already clear that Johnson could lose his post over this issue. And Johnson will have an audience today with one of the loudest Ukraine skeptics in Trump.

2) No one is afraid of Johnson. Unlike Nancy Pelosi, Newt Gingrich or even John Boehner, no one is afraid to cross Johnson. Senior appropriators voted against the recent government funding bill with impunity. Committee chairs took a pass too. No fallout.

But it’s on the Rules Committee — the panel that the speaker uses to control the floor — where you see some unprecedented actions.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a Rules Committee member who managed the FISA rule debate on the floor Wednesday, turned around and voted against that rule. Roy didn’t even give Johnson or outgoing Rules Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) a heads-up that he was doing it.

Roy insists it was no big deal, although many veteran members in both parties were stunned. A lawmaker who did this would immediately be booted from Rules by previous speakers, no questions asked.

“Where is that sacrosanct? Is that written in the Bible?” Roy shot back when asked about the incident. “As we said last January [2023], we’re trying to democratize this place a little bit.”

The reality, though, is that the House is a dictatorship of the majority. Especially on the Rules Committee.

3) It’s April, and Republicans are on messaging bills. Next week, the House Republican leadership has lined up a series of bills dealing with alleged Biden administration overreach on household appliances.

Listed for possible consideration on the floor:

→	Rep. Debbie Lesko’s (R-Ariz.) Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, which prohibits the federal government from putting new energy conservation standards on household appliances.

→	Rep. Andy Ogles’ (R-Tenn.) Liberty in Laundry Act, which “prohibits” the government from “prescribing or enforcing energy conservation standards for clothes washers that are not cost-effective or technologically feasible.”

→	Rep. Mike Ezell’s (R-Miss.) Clothes Dryer Reliability Act, same but for clothes dryers.

→	Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks’ (R-Iowa) Refrigerator Freedom Act, is the same but for refrigerators.

→	Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s (R-Texas) Affordable Air Conditioning Act, ditto, but for air conditioning units.

→	And Rep. Nick Langworthy’s (R-N.Y.) Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act, which takes care of the GOP’s claims of the overregulation of dishwashers.

These are all part of the Republican culture war clash over energy efficiency and climate change. It’s similar to the gas stove hysteria or Trump’s war on low-flush toilets and light bulbs.

— Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan

HOUSE GOP

Austin Scott gets Good’s goat

House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-Va.) privately objected to Speaker Mike Johnson appointing Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) to an open slot on the House Rules Committee.

Multiple Republican sources told us that Good was fuming behind the scenes that Scott — who has endorsed Good’s primary challenger — was selected to serve on the powerful panel. The Rules Committee seat came open following Rep. Tom Cole’s (R-Okla.) ascension to chair of the Appropriations Committee. Cole succeeded Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), who is retiring at the end of the year.

This latest beef between Good and Scott is another example of the personal rivalries and dramas that have dominated the House GOP Conference throughout this Congress. It played out most spectacularly of course, during the bitter fight over ousting former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last fall, as well as the drawn-out scramble to succeed him.

It’s also playing out on the campaign trail. Good was one of the eight Republicans who voted to dump McCarthy. In turn, Scott has backed John McGuire, a Virginia state senator and former Navy SEAL who is primarying Good. Reps. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) and Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) — two other former Navy SEALs, are all also supporting McGuire, as well as House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.).

Good downplayed Scott’s support for McGuire. Scott has attended campaign events with McGuire and also donated money to his campaign.

“Austin Scott — nobody in my district knows who he is or cares who he endorses or doesn’t endorse. So that’s of no concern,” Good told us when asked about his objection to the Georgia Republican serving on Rules.

We reported back in January that Scott was also one of the earliest members to donate to McGuire’s campaign.

For his part, Scott told us that he was appointed by Johnson to Rules and it had nothing to do with Good.

“It’s not about him,” Scott insisted. “The speaker asked me to serve on the committee and I’m going to serve on the committee and I’m going to do my job. I expect that I’ll vote the majority of the time in the way he’d be happy with.”

It’s also true that HFC members have played around in other Republican primaries, backing conservatives over more moderate or centrist GOP lawmakers.

And Good committed the most serious Republican sin of all — he backed someone other than Donald Trump during the GOP presidential campaign. Good endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and some in the Trump camp have vowed revenge. Good is now backing Trump.

Scott, though, has been vocally critical of the Freedom Caucus in recent months.

It’s worth remembering the Georgia Republican ran a short-lived campaign for speaker against House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) last year, in part due to frustration over conservatives’ controlling the House GOP agenda.

— Mica Soellner and Max Cohen

THE AI IMPACT

How AI is revolutionizing health care

ICYMI: The health care sector is embracing artificial intelligence and its potential to transform the industry, including drug development, research and simplifying administrative tasks.

On Tuesday, we released the second installation in our ongoing series, The AI Impact, exploring the promises of the technology for the health industry.

We also looked into how Congress and the federal government are approaching AI while seeking a regulatory approach that encourages innovation but includes necessary guardrails. Don’t forget to check out the accompanying podcast here.

With new segments every other week for two months, we’ll explore the way AI technology is changing the way the government, private industry and nonprofits conduct business.

Read our previous segment about AI and cybersecurity here.

The AI Impact series is presented by Google.

COCKTAILS & CONVERSATIONS: ENERGY TRANSITION

Thursday night, we hosted “Cocktails & Conversation: Energy Transition,” an event featuring networking, light bites and a fireside chat about efforts to create a reliable clean energy future. Punchbowl News CEO Anna Palmer sat down for a conversation with Kathleen Barrón, executive vice president and chief strategy officer at Constellation Energy, and Dr. Nat Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Thank you to Constellation Energy for partnering with us on this event.

Raising a glass: Molly Connor and Katie Sarro of Business Roundtable; Isabel Mogstad and JP Fielder of bp; Mary Werden of the Office of Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.); Adam McBride of the Office of Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.); Charlotte Hoffman of the Office of Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.); Abby Miller of INGAA; Gabriel Rosner of ACORE; Zach Friedman of Ceres; and Sarah Vilms of Squire Patton Boggs.

THE CAMPAIGN

We have a bunch of campaign news for you this morning.

Speaker endorsements: Speaker Mike Johnson is rolling out a slate of endorsements in key races today.

Johnson is backing Matt Gunderson to defeat Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), Kevin Coughlin to unseat Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio) and Monique DeSpain to topple Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Ore.).

Johnson is also endorsing incumbent Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Celeste Maloy (R-Utah) and Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), as well as Guam Del. James Moylan.

The leadership almost always endorses incumbents.

Mace, of course, was one of the members who voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year. There was initially talk of recriminations, but Mace has the leadership’s backing in her reelection campaign.

Money game: Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) raised $1 million in Q1 and ended the quarter with $2.6 million on hand. Calvert is facing a rematch from well-funded Democratic challenger Will Rollins in the competitive 41st District.

Evaluating the House GOP hauls: The NRCC raised $16.2 million in March and increased its cash-on-hand balance by $10.7 million to $55.9 million. This is the best month for the NRCC this cycle.

But by historical standards, it’s just OK. In March 2022, the NRCC raised $19.4 million and had $94 million on hand.

Johnson’s team trumpeted Thursday that he raised $20 million in his first quarter as speaker.

We’re focusing on this news this morning because one of the big concerns about Johnson as speaker was whether he could keep pace with McCarthy on the fundraising front. And the answer to that is no, not right now.

First of all, the two Republicans appear to count money vastly differently. Johnson’s $20 million is a total of everything he raised “for his own committees and directly for leadership, incumbents, challengers and party entities,” according to an aide on his political team. McCarthy didn’t count the money that he raised in appearances for lawmakers or candidates around the country.

But even leaving aside that disparity, McCarthy raised more in absolute hard dollars.

In the first quarter of 2022, the analogous period of time during the last election cycle, McCarthy raised $31.5 million. Thus Johnson’s total represents a 36% drop from McCarthy’s Q1 2022 total. In the first quarter of 2023, McCarthy raised $38 million, followed by $21.7 in the second quarter and $15.3 million in the third quarter.

At the beginning of this cycle, McCarthy’s fundraising team internally planned to raise $40 million in the first quarter of 2024. Of course, McCarthy was ousted well before he could get started on that.

— Max Cohen and Jake Sherman

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