House Speaker Mike Johnson could lose his job over his latest July 4th stumble.
Fourteen House Republicans tanked a procedural vote this week for the National Defense Authorization Act, the must-pass bill that funds the U.S. military. The members refused to let the bill move forward without attaching the SAVE America Act, Trump’s voter ID and proof-of-citizenship election bill.
The move forced Johnson to cancel all remaining votes and send Congress home early for the Independence Day recess, leaving the NDAA, a stack of appropriations bills, and the SAVE Act itself all unfinished.
It was the second straight week the Republican leader had been forced to scrap his entire agenda.
Johnson is losing control of the House, and the patience of Republican lawmakers is running out.
The most stunning blow came from Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), who unloaded on Johnson personally after the vote.
“There’s one common problem here,” Miller said. “It’s always been one person, and for someone who’s got the holiest tongue in the world, he lies more than anyone I’ve ever met.”
The rebels who killed the defense bill included some of the House’s most prominent conservatives: Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Chip Roy of Texas, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and others.
I’m not stupid,” Luna warned on Tuesday.”I’m going to fight on the behalf of the American people.”
She has also gone after Johnson directly.
“IF IT IS NOT DONE THIS WAY, IT WILL EASILY BE TAKEN OUT,” Luna warned about passing the SAVE America Act. “25 members including myself have agreed we will NOT vote on ANYTHING they send us until VOTER ID IS PASSED. Bring us a no-nonsense plan to finish the SAVE America Act, or do not expect the floor to reopen anytime soon.”
Johnson called the tactic “self-defeating” and said the protest “doesn’t make any sense. We have to move forward with legislation and that’s what I’ll be telling them all.”
Not every Republican is out for Johnson.
Reps. Riley Moore (R-WV) and Byron Donalds (R-FL) pointed the finger squarely at the Senate.
“We got 53 Republicans in the Senate, their margin is better than ours in the House,” Moore told Breitbart News. “The House is being held hostage by Senate inaction.”
“The Senate sucks,” Donalds said at a Freedom Caucus event last week. “I’m just going to come out and say it — they suck. This is not hard!”
Trump has called the SAVE America Act his single greatest legislative priority and has said he would not sign any other bills until the SAVE Act passes.