News: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) huddled with Speaker Mike Johnson on the House floor Wednesday night to talk about Russia sanctions. Fitzpatrick is considering filing a discharge petition to bring a sanctions bill to the floor. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday he’s ready to move the Senate’s sanctions measure but argued it must originate in the House for procedural reasons.
Johnson has lost two discharge petitions in recent weeks, so he’s probably eager to avoid another one.
Thune vs. Johnson. Tensions between the Senate and House are as old as time. And it’s not unusual for the Senate majority leader and House speaker to be at odds, even when they’re from the same party. Much of it stems from the differences in rules, procedures and culture between the two chambers.
Yet Senate and House Republicans are buzzing this week about two high-profile schisms between Thune and Johnson, whose relationship has seen relatively few cracks up to this point.
On Tuesday, Thune roundly dismissed Johnson’s push for the Senate to amend legislation mandating the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Within the span of a few hours, Thune also rebuffed Johnson on a controversial provision allowing senators to sue the Justice Department if their phone records are obtained. After Thune defended the measure, the House unanimously passed a bill to repeal it on Wednesday night.
“There’s no daylight between us,” Johnson said in a brief interview. “Sometimes he and I both get frustrated with the other chamber’s rules and processes and procedures and peccadillos. I regard him as a good friend and a trusted partner. We’ve had a great leadership run together. And there’s no daylight between us. So we’re working all that out.”
It was notable, and perhaps unfortunate, that these splits occurred almost simultaneously. Both Thune and Johnson, along with their allies, say their relationship remains strong and they don’t foresee any ripple effects. The pair had their weekly meeting on Wednesday.
“I understand there are different ways of doing things… but for the most part, I would say we have an incredibly strong working relationship,” Thune said.
Indeed, the pair has beaten back some serious headwinds throughout the year, including sticking together amid the government shutdown and passing the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
But there are several flash points in the coming weeks that could make the Epstein and DOJ payout rifts look tame.
Rough road ahead. First, it’ll be a major challenge to negotiate and pass the rest of the full-year funding bills by Jan. 30. The Senate’s topline spending figure is much higher than the House’s number. The three full-year funding bills signed into law last week are typically regarded as the easiest to pass — yet they almost fell off the rails several times.
On health care, Thune has committed to putting a bill on the floor by mid-December, while Johnson hasn’t promised anything. If the Senate passes a bill to address the immediate threat of rising Obamacare premiums with sufficient GOP support, Johnson will be under tremendous pressure to take action in the House.
And there are strategic divisions about the value of passing another party-line reconciliation bill, as many Republicans are pushing to use that as the vehicle for a health care overhaul.
So while both camps are downplaying this week’s drama, the dynamic between the two leaders could be starting to shift.
Inside the split. Thune has always been careful not to publicly criticize, undermine or otherwise diminish Johnson. The South Dakota Republican not only rebuffed Johnson twice this week, he seemed remarkably comfortable doing so.
Thune’s allies in the leadership blame Johnson for, in their view, pretending to speak for the Senate majority leader.
For example, Johnson said on Tuesday that he was “very confident” the Senate would amend the Epstein bill, citing a conversation he just had with Thune. And last week, Johnson said he was “very angry” about the DOJ payout provision, adding that Thune told him over the phone that he “regretted the way it was done.”
In both cases, Thune made very clear how he felt about those issues. And it didn’t line up with Johnson’s characterizations. This set the stage for the public splits.
Yet the House’s unanimous passage last night of legislation to repeal the DOJ payout language puts new pressure on Thune, who’s already under fire from House Republicans and many GOP senators — including Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) — who felt blindsided.
Also … Cherfilus-McCormick indicted. A federal grand jury indicted Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) Wednesday on charges of embezzling $5 million in disaster funds.
The indictment alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick, along with several co-defendants, received an overpayment of Covid-related disaster funds and then funneled a large portion of the money toward her campaign.
Cherfilus-McCormick was elected in a 2022 special to fill the seat of the late Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) by a mere five votes and won reelection later that year.
Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) said he’d file a motion to censure Cherfilus-McCormick and remove her from all committees. This will be the fifth rebuke effort in the House this week.
Cherfilus-McCormick isn’t the only Democrat under indictment. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was indicted in May 2024 on a series of federal corruption charges. Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) was indicted on federal assault charges earlier this year after a confrontation during an ICE detention facility protest.
One more thing. We scooped in Wednesday’s PM edition that Johnson and House Intelligence Committee Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) banned Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) from government-funded international travel after an episode that involved alcohol in Mexico.
