'Striking' departure of 3 top policy aides 'strips Speaker Johnson' of 'significant expertise'

21 May 2024

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) enjoyed a major victory when lawmakers — including a long list of Democrats — decisively voted down Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Georgia) proposal to oust him from that position. It remains to be seen whether Republicans will keep or lose their small House majority in the November elections, but for now, Johnson's speakership appears to be safe.

However, Johnson is still facing his share of challenges.

According to Punchbowl News reporters Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan, three "leading members" of the speaker's policy team will be leaving "by the end of May" — thus "robbing the House's top Republican of a critical core of experienced aides.

Johnson aids Brittan Specht, Jason Yaworske and Preston Hill worked for former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) when he was speaker and will be joining the well-known lobbying firm Michael Best Strategies.

"The departure, which is striking in size and in experience, strips Johnson of a significant amount of expertise in his domestic policy shop," Sherman and Bresnahan explain. "Specht was McCarthy's policy director and was key in crafting the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which raised the debt limit and set budget levels for two years."

The Punchbowl reporters add, "Yaworske is a well-respected adviser to the speaker on the appropriations and budget matters. As the House Appropriations Committee begins marking up the FY2025 spending bills, Yaworske's expertise on government spending is in demand. And Hill, a longtime figure in GOP leadership, was in charge of overseeing House Republican policy in burgeoning policy areas such as cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence as well as Education and the Workforce and Financial Services."

Sherman and Bresnahan note that Specht, Yaworske and Hill were valuable to Johnson by being "at the table during high-stakes negotiations."

"Team Johnson says they will be hiring new policy staff soon," according to the Punchbowl journalists. "But we’ll see who is willing to commit with the election only 167 days away."

McCarthy told Punchbowl, "Brittan, Jason, and Preston are the strongest brain trust in the Capitol. They have been involved in every major negotiation over the last seven years. Whether it's tax, appropriations, financial services, or defense, AI and the debt limit, they've been in the room and at the table with the highest stakes."

Read Punchbowl News' full report at this link.

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