President-elect Donald Trump has an aggressive agenda planned for his first 100 days, which should not be derailed by Republicans who are supposed to be his allies in the House. They need to stop fighting over interim spending and, most especially, set aside political gossiping over who should lead them as speaker. If House Republicans want to run for reelection on a successful Trump agenda in 2026, they should work with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) now and help their party avoid a chaotic start that would undermine confidence in the important agenda for the next four years.
Revolt over the 1,500-page continuing resolution that emerged from negotiations between Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was understandable. After an overwhelming vote for change in the November election, the deal embodied a business-as-usual approach with all kinds of goodies for lobbyists and special interest groups secreted within its many pages.
Shortly after it died its deserved death, the president-elect made clear he did not blame Johnson, telling reporters that if the speaker acted “decisively and tough” and eliminated “all of the traps being set by Democrats,” he would “easily remain speaker” next year.
That would be a good outcome. Johnson is the right kind of politician to be speaker, and he deserves the support of the incoming president and the Republican conference around him. He is still relatively new to the job, but it is clear that after the first continuing resolution was rejected, Johnson knew he had to work more deliberately to secure support from his GOP colleagues, and he brought many of them in for discussions to make repairs. The closed-door approach was replaced, as it should have been, with a more open process.
Johnson’s Republican colleagues should realize that, as Trump suggested, they are partly to blame for the behemoth first spending package because a sizable minority of them refused to vote for any continuing resolution, forcing their leader to work with Schumer on terms dictated by the Democrats. If House Republicans had voted strategically in favor of smaller continuing resolutions, Johnson would not have been forced to agree with Democrats to spend more.
Trump and his Republican colleagues need to minimize Democrats’ debt-limit leverage over him next year. That’s what he means by “all of the traps.” Trump has called for an end to the debt limit entirely, but when House Republicans emerged with a plan for a simple two-year suspension of the limit, the president-elect supported it.
Unfortunately, the narrow continuing resolution, stripped to about 100 pages with a debt limit hike, failed to pass because 38 Republicans defected. There is now talk of separating the continuing resolution and the debt limit, which could bring more Republicans to vote for a continuing resolution alone. A debt limit hike might be able to pass with the help of Democratic votes.
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Republicans must solve this puzzle, and just as he should be able to expect support from his colleagues, Johnson must also rally his team and produce results that put wind in the sails of the incoming administration. Trump is going to need strong and effective leaders on Capitol Hill not just to help him get his agenda passed but also to tell him when his agenda has gone too far or is not politically tenable.
The significance of these last two weeks of the 118th Congress is great and will stretch beyond the end of this year. If Republicans succumb to internal fighting now and fail to get ready to enact Trump’s priorities, they risk establishing a pattern of failure and internecine fighting that could blight his second term. Johnson can and must rally his colleagues and produce an outcome that minimizes Democratic leverage. Then both Trump and Johnson should expect a successful New Year.