A GOP lawmaker and close ally to President Donald Trump took to Fox News Sunday to issue House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) a blistering condemnation after the House GOP leader, again, sent lawmakers home on recess after facing pushback from his own party.
Johnson currently holds the record for the most failed special rule votes as leader of the House, something he’s blamed on the GOP’s slim majority in the chamber. For Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), however, Johnson’s excuse didn’t carry much weight.
“It’s all about bringing people together. I truly, truly believe that we have to figure out what a team is,” Smith said during an appearance on Fox News. “We don’t need to be recessing when we hit a bump on the road, we need to have a conference meeting, go and hash it out, fix the problem, and that’s what Speaker [John] Boehner, Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy, Speaker [Paul] Ryan would do.”
Last Tuesday, Johnson sent lawmakers home on a nearly two-week recess after facing a small GOP rebellion on the House floor, largely over Congress’ failure to pass the SAVE Act, Trump’s controversial voter ID bill that some critics have described as a form of “voter suppression.” The House has passed the bill several times, though it remains stalled in the Senate.
The chaos under Johnson’s leadership has not gone unnoticed by House Democrats.
“What on earth are we doing here?” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) on the House floor last week, as reported by Politico. “Every week, wondering if someone’s going to throw a fit, if Donald Trump is going to post something crazy and blow everything up, if Mike Johnson is going to bring something to the floor when he doesn’t have the votes.”
Rep. Jason Smith on Speaker Johnson sending the House home after a failed vote:
We don't need to be recessing when we hit a bump on the road. pic.twitter.com/kNjDiLdGCO
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 5, 2026