'Everything here is stupid': Johnson speakership on life support as Republicans revolt

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) arrives for Britain's King Charles' address to a joint meeting of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 28, 2026.

MS NOW reporter Mychaal Schnell says House Speaker Mike Johnson has ended one Republican revolt, but is now facing the prospect of another.

“As House conservatives lifted their weekslong floor blockade on Tuesday — allowing GOP leaders to resume moving big-ticket legislation — Republicans were already bracing for another fight over a third reconciliation package,” reports Schnell.

Johnson may have persuaded conservative holdouts to abandon their demand that the Senate pass the SAVE America Act before the House move any partisan legislation forward but solving that problem is already creating a new one.

“Republicans are now trying to advance a reconciliation package — one designed to fund the Iran war — with a version of the SAVE America Act attached to it, exposing new divisions in the House GOP and setting up a potential standoff with the Senate,” said Schnell.

Adding to the problems is the timeline, Schnell said. GOP leaders and the White House are hoping to move the package through the House by the end of next week, and schedule leaves little room for internal disagreements before the July 24 start of the August recess. Plus, there are plenty of substantive issues that lawmakers still need to address.

“I just don’t see the path forward right now,” one anonymous House Republican told MS NOW. “There’s too many things going on that just complicate the world we live in right now.”

The lawmaker added that there is “a lot of distrust with the administration right now.”

“Especially how they’ve been spending resources at this point,” said the lawmaker. “And the lack of information — on this plan but also the amount of stuff we’re hearing about how money is being spent, mismanaged.”

Republicans are currently eyeing a reconciliation framework that would include roughly $70 billion for defense, $20 billion for agriculture and the SAVE America Act, according to three House Republicans familiar with the still-evolving plan. But that blueprint doesn’t include any spending cuts to offset the new funding, according to the sources, which is creating new friction among fiscal conservatives.

Meanwhile, even though spending cuts would satisfy Republican hardliners, they could prompt moderates to pull their support for the package.

Other lawmakers are furious that they weren’t included in key planning conversations.

“During a closed-door House GOP conference meeting Tuesday morning, Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind. — a member of the Budget Committee, which plays a key role in reconciliation efforts — complained about not being invited to a recent meeting at Camp David with members of the panel, House Minority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and White House officials, according to a lawmaker in the room,” reports Schnell.

“I don’t care if the meeting was held at IHOP — the entire Budget Committee should have been included,” Houchin said, according to the member.

After the gathering, Houchin said on X that she had “serious concerns” with the framework as it has been proposed.

The anonymous Republican speaking to MS NOW added that “We don’t know what’s being proposed. We don’t know what we’re having to deal with here.”

Asked about the reconciliation package, one anonymous House Republican summed up the situation in four words: “Everything here is stupid.”

“I feel a lot of ways, frustration surrounds all my feelings,” the lawmaker said. “Not sure what the heck is going to take place.”

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