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Speaker Mike Johnson

What Hill leaders are focused on — and what they’re trying to accomplish

Speaker Mike Johnson. There is a common thread running through the set of decisions Johnson must make this week. Whatever he does, Johnson will anger one portion of the House Republican Conference or another.

Let’s talk about committees. Johnson has yet to name a chair of the House Rules Committee or the House Intelligence Committee. He also hasn’t filled any of the slots on either committee.

We don’t expect Johnson to oust House Intelligence Chair Committee Mike Turner (R-Ohio), although the speaker has been noncommittal on it publicly. We’ll note that Turner attended a meeting this past weekend in Mar-a-Lago for House committee chairs with President-elect Donald Trump.

Johnson has a tough choice for Rules Committee chair between Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), a hard-nosed disciplinarian, and Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.), a third-term former lieutenant governor. House Republicans don’t have a woman full-committee chair.

Furthermore, Johnson has to set the committee roster for Rules, one of his biggest decisions in the early part of this Congress. Will he keep the troublesome trio of GOP Reps. Chip Roy (Texas), Ralph Norman (S.C.) and Thomas Massie (Ky.)? Chatter inside the House GOP leadership circles seems to be pointing to Johnson canning Massie and keeping the other two. Massie also recently told us he doesn’t care about serving on Rules anymore. But Johnson is keeping his own counsel on this — just like he does on most things.

On reconciliation, Johnson will welcome back a massive gaggle of House Republicans who spent the weekend hanging with Trump. The president-elect, accompanied by Elon Musk, wined and dined members — and even sent them home with signed hats and books — in the hopes of inspiring unity.

Whether the charm offensive works remains to be seen. House Freedom Caucus members made clear to Trump they favor a two-step approach to reconciliation, according to a source in the room, even as Johnson advocates for a single massive package. And while SALT Republicans floated potential fixes during their meeting, Trump tasked the crew with settling on a number that the rest of the House GOP conference could live with. The president-elect reiterated his support for raising the cap as high as possible.

The challenge for Johnson is multifaceted. Johnson has been sending mixed signals on reconciliation, saying he prefers the one-bill solution but understands why the two-bill play is appealing to some. We get why he’s doing this. There are those House Republicans who think the two-bill play is the best move, as does the Senate GOP leadership. But this leaves rank-and-file House Republicans wondering what the leadership is doing.

Remember: Johnson and his leadership want the budget resolution on the floor by the middle of February. They need to get moving — and now.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune. Senate Republicans’ new leader came into the job wanting to score some early legislative wins. This is at least partly what fueled his desire for a two-step process on budget reconciliation — pass a border security-focused bill within Trump’s first 100 days, then pivot to tax cuts.

Thune hasn’t been able to sell Trump on the latter. And as we reported, Thune had a back-and-forth with Trump on this during Senate Republicans’ closed-door meeting with the president-elect last week. The two-step idea could still be the end result here if Republicans struggle with one megabill.

But Thune is still on track to secure at least one legislative victory in the opening days of his tenure as Senate GOP leader.

Last week, all Republicans and nearly every Democrat voted to open up debate on the Laken Riley Act, a bill that would make it easier for law enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants accused of crimes. Passing the bill in its current form isn’t a sure thing, but Thune has forced Democrats to the table on an issue that dominated the GOP’s 2024 election messaging.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats want to amend the bill, but Republicans don’t want this to turn into a massive immigration bill. Thune will try to avoid this and move straight to final passage with 60 votes, meaning Democratic votes will be needed. A handful of Democratic senators back the bill in its current form.

The next procedural vote is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. today.

One quick note: Republicans currently have a 51-47 majority. Sen.-elect Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) will be sworn in as early as today, and Ohio GOP Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to reveal his appointment to Vice President-elect JD Vance’s seat. Vance resigned from the Senate late last week. We’re told that Lt. Gov. Jon Husted will get the nod if he wants it.

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