Now that Congress is back in session, the Republican Party leadership is butting heads on priorities and competing views on legislation that could lead to yet another government shutdown.
According to a report from Politico’s Jordain Carney and Meredith Lee Hill, the relationship between House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has frayed — with a battle over a Senate initiative at the center of their dispute.
With both leaders sitting on slim majorities in their respective chambers, and Democrats unwilling to lend a hand, that means legislation could be stalled due to the squabbling.
Politico reported, “In recent days, they became enmeshed in just that, when they publicly split and shadowboxed over a pair of internal GOP dilemmas over politically toxic issues.”
Two very public battles have exposed the rift, starting “when Johnson trashed a measure that Thune tucked into last week’s government funding deal to allow senators to sue the government and reap damages for electronic records seizures,” and Thune's refusal to make changes in the Jeffrey Epstein files bill that has already been signed by Donald Trump.
Although Thune has professed, “We work very well together. Communicate regularly. There are always going to be hiccups along the way,” Politico wrote, “The split marked an unexpected round of turbulence for the mild-mannered GOP leaders.”
“Now they face two huge challenges they will need to navigate together: Obamacare subsidies are set to expire at the end of next month, threatening health insurance premium hikes for millions of Americans, and the leaders face competing factions in both chambers when it comes to how to respond,” the report notes.
According to one Senate Republican, Johnson can be blamed for most of the fighting, telling Politico, “That is House drama. We don’t need that over here.”
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