Mike Johnson Has Few Options to Save His Job From Angry Republicans

House Speaker Mike Johnson could face the same fate as his predecessor as he eyes his own spending deal in hopes of averting a government shutdown.

Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced a tentative deal Sunday that would establish an overall spending level of nearly $1.66 trillion in the 2024 fiscal year, reflecting the bipartisan agreement struck last year between President Joe Biden and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, despite Johnson’s cuts.

The deal that McCarthy reached was the very thing that led to his removal. After facing backlash from the far-right flank of his party, McCarthy was ousted by members of his own party through a motion to vacate filed by Representative Matt Gaetz. Johnson could face his own motion to vacate by conservatives who are unhappy with the budget deal.

Nearly a dozen House Republicans have vocally criticized the spending agreement, saying they disagreed with Johnson’s position and blasting the agreement as a “total failure.”

“It’s even worse than we thought. Don’t believe the spin. Once you break through typical Washington math, the true total programmatic spending level is $1.658 trillion — not $1.59 trillion. This is total failure,” the House Freedom Caucus wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Political consultant Jay Townsend told Newsweek that the idea of ousting Johnson is likely to “come up in caucus meetings, on the floor and in the hallways among Republican members.”

“There is little [the House GOP] can do to stop it other than threatening the career of a member who runs with it,” Townsend said.

Republican strategist Alex Patton told Newsweek it would be up to Johnson to get his party in line, either co-opting or convincing members of his caucus that they could lose control of the House if they continue to threaten party leadership.

“I don’t believe there is any appeasing some in the caucus. Their brand is non-compromising trolling,” Patton said.

Both Townsend and Patton emphasized that another motion to vacate would go beyond hurting Johnson’s political career and could spell trouble for the Republican Party as a whole. Townsend said that if Johnson’s speakership is tested this way, it would be “suicide for the GOP” and serve as “proof” that the party is a “grievance-driven creature incapable of governing.”

“Those advocating a motion to vacate want to serve in the minority for the remainder of the decade,” Townsend said. “[Johnson] is doing the best he can with the hand he was dealt. The kids in his caucus need to grow up.”

A CNN poll conducted the week after McCarthy was ousted showed that disapproval for congressional Republicans rose to 74 percent from the mid-to-high 60s in recent years. It was the highest disapproval rating since 2012.

“Only God may know what this Republican caucus may or may not do, but I would think that even they realize vacating the speakership this soon would be a major mistake,” Patton said. “The more likely path is the rabble-rousers will b****, moan, feign outrage, and fundraise off it. It’s all so tiresome and becoming trite.”