'Uphill climb': House Republicans struggle to form unified message for November

The vast majority of U.S. House lawmakers, including Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York), rejected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Georgia)'s proposal to oust Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) as speaker when they voted, 359-43, to keep him in that position.

Johnson enjoyed strong bipartisan support in that vote; 163 House Democrats opposed ousting him. But Democrats, even with that vote, are still hoping to retake the House in November.

In a report published on May 13, Punchbowl News stresses that House Republicans are struggling to make a unified case for letting them keep their majority this fall.

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Punchbowl explains, "The House GOP is in a starkly different position than a year ago when the party was working through its 'Commitment to America' plan spearheaded by McCarthy. In part of 2023, House Republicans were at least passing party-line bills that could satisfy the GOP base, despite most of those measures being dead on arrival in the Democratic-led Senate."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) claims that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has turned a blind eye to House Republican bills.

Jordan told Punchbowl, "The first few bills we passed, parents rights, H.R. 2 on immigration policy … We point to that and say, 'I'm sorry, Chuck Schumer won't take up good legislation.'"

But Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) acknowledges that keeping their majority will be challenging for House Republicans.

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Bacon told Punchbowl, "It's a small number of guys causing these troubles.… but I think we have an uphill climb."

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Read Punchbowl News' full report at this link.