'Over his head': Mike Johnson faces leadership crisis over border pact

Mitch McConnell and Mike Johnson are each facing a test of their leadership in the immigration showdown.

A bipartisan group of senators are expected to soon deliver text of a bill that would tie stricter border policies to Ukraine aid, and Senate minority leader McConnell must try to keep his 49 members on board while the House speaker struggles to keep Donald Trump's right-wing allies from killing the deal, reported Politico.

“We don’t know if the House would take up and pass anything we pass in the Senate,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a McConnell ally. “People wonder: ‘Why should we do this if it’s not going anywhere?’ Especially if it’s a hard vote for some people.”

Johnson and McConnell speak regularly, and the House speaker told Republican senators that border security was necessary to get new Ukraine funding, but the Senate minority leader's allies believe McConnell fails to see that House Republicans won't allow any policy achievements for President Joe Biden.

“If you’re going to take a tough vote, you take one but you want to accomplish something," Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), a skeptic on Ukraine aid. "The worst of all possible worlds is you take a vote, you put a lot of political pressure on the House and you don’t get any policy accomplished. We’re going to take a vote that only harms us politically. It also puts our House colleagues in a bad position.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has threatened to strip Johnson of his gavel if Ukraine aid passes, and Donald Trump has made clear that he doesn't want border legislation until he's potentially back in office, and some of the House speaker's own allies are beginning to doubt his ability to keep GOP hardliners in line.

“What we’re finding out is that Mike Johnson is in over his head,” said one House Republican who knows both Johnson and McConnell.

McConnell has been candid about Trump's opposition to the border deal, and he knows a bill linking that to Ukraine aid must easily pass the Senate to have a chance in the House, where Johnson's leadership faces another test.

“I have no idea what [Johnson will] do,” said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-LA). “If we don’t get 25, preferably 30, [Republican] votes for a bill over here, it makes it that much less likely that he’ll be able to get it to the floor.”