‘Let’s make a Deal’ time coming up Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson ….
He IS being whipsawed by his RightWingNuts House Republicans to NOT agree to a Spending Bill that does NOT CUT mass swat’s of Social programs that Democrats will NOT support for passage in the Senate….
THAT would force a government shutdown something Johnson does NOT want with his majority in the low single digits and the good possibility of the Republicans becoming the minority party next year….
So?
As before….
Democrats say they will help the Speaker get around his right leaners …..
For a Price of some consessions which sure to piss the RightWingNuts off…..
And could endanger his Speakership…..
This IS really about internal Republican power…
NOT the Country….
A handful of House Democrats say they’d step in to help Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) keep his gavel in the face of a potential conservative revolt — but it wouldn’t come free.
Democrats willing to consider the matter said Johnson would first have to forge an agreement with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) ensuring Democrats had a greater voice in the legislative process. In that case, they’d be willing to provide the votes to keep the Speaker in power.
“Just like I told McCarthy: Talk to Hakeem, and there are some of us that can support you,” said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), referring to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who was booted from his leadership post last year at the hands of disgruntled conservatives.
“I’ll say the same thing [to Johnson].”
Cuellar is not alone among Democrats floating the idea of a Johnson rescue.
“He would have to be more willing than Kevin McCarthy was to sit down with Hakeem Jeffries and have a conversation about what it would take for us to be helpful. Kevin said to pound sand. He didn’t want the help,” said Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.).
“We wouldn’t be offering it as an act of charity,” Kildee continued. “We would say, ‘Look, if you need Democrats to govern, then you’re going to have to take Democratic input.’”
To be sure, the odds of Johnson agreeing to such a power-sharing arrangement are minuscule, and there doesn’t seem to be an immediate threat to his gavel from the Republicans who toppled McCarthy.
Still, Johnson’s recent endorsement of a bipartisan spending agreement has infuriated a small group of conservatives who are demanding that he retract his support for the deal and draft another proposal featuring sharper cuts to federal programs.
Amid that internal GOP battle, at least two Republican firebrands — Reps. Chip Roy (Texas) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) — are already floating the possibility that conservatives would file a motion to vacate the Speaker’s chair if Johnson doesn’t satisfy their demands….