With Republicans holding a narrow and unruly majority in the House of Representatives, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has had to rely on Democrats in some key votes to prevent government shutdowns.
Johnson, who was thrust into the role of House speaker after hard-right Republicans teamed up with Democrats to remove then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has attempted to steer the chamber through the hijinks of the slim GOP majority. With Johnson relying on Democrats for multiple stopgaps to avoid a government shutdown, including the likely need for Democratic votes to avoid a shutdown this week, Democrats are feeling good about their chances to retake the chamber in November.
Several House Democrats told Politico they don’t mind helping Johnson when they can get their spending priorities and be the saving votes, with one saying he sees the reliance on them by House GOP leadership as a “double win.”
“When we’re winning, why would we worry about them flailing?” Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) told the outlet. “Now we’re able to get this across the finish line largely intact, with very little damage, given we’re not in charge. That’s like a double win, so I’m happy.”
Republicans currently have a 218-213 majority in the House, and the November election for control of the chamber is expected to be a toss-up. The Cook Political Report has the number of lean-to-solid GOP seats at 210 and the number of lean-to-solid Democrat seats at 203, meaning the 22 “toss-up” seats will likely determine which party gets to the 218 seats needed for a majority.
Democrats talking to the outlet also said while they are not enthusiastic over the processes it takes to pass spending bills in this Congress, they believe they are “contributing to” solutions.
“That’s the world we’re living in, and that’s what it takes to get it passed. I wish it wasn’t that way, but that’s what we’re dealing with, and Democrats are contributing to the solution,” Rep. Ed Case (D-HI) told the outlet.
As some Democrats bask in getting their priorities in the spending bills and using being part of “the solution” as an election pitch, some Republicans have grown frustrated over the speaker’s reliance on Democrats and have pushed for more hard lines in spending deals.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called the GOP majority in the House a “complete failure” on Thursday, alluding to a lack of action on border security in the spending deal.
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“We have the power of the purse, which means we can control what the entire government does. Tomorrow, Speaker Johnson is funding the government that has created this invasion,” she said.
Earlier in the year, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) also expressed his frustrations by saying that “sober conversations” were needed over GOP leadership due to spending agreements.