Speaker Mike Johnson’s week just started and it’s already falling apart.
Internal GOP strife forced Republican leaders late Monday to scrap a House Rules meeting that was supposed to set up critical floor votes on an extension of the Section 702 spy law, immigration enforcement funding and a farm bill. They planned to reconvene around 8 a.m. and try again.
At least 10 Republicans are threatening to oppose the rule vote teeing up the legislation — currently scheduled for 4:30 p.m. — over problems with Johnson’s three-year Section 702 reauthorization. And there are other issues with Republicans’ budget reconciliation plan and the farm bill.
Johnson is hoping he can pass the 702 extension shortly after 9 p.m., following a state dinner with King Charles III.
The fight over the spy law is more or less where it was earlier this month, when GOP hard-liners tanked a vote on an extension. They don’t believe leadership’s latest attempt at a compromise would go far enough to shield Americans from being caught up in warrantless surveillance under Section 702, which allows such surveillance of foreigners abroad. They also want assurances that there will be a ban on central bank digital currency.
The Senate is preparing to advance a three-year 702 extension around noon Tuesday as the House GOP stalemate threatens a lapse after Thursday’s deadline.
In a private House GOP meeting Monday night, GOP leaders tried to push Republicans to pass Johnson’s latest proposal as is. That suggestion only enraged some GOP hard-liners who are still opposed to the plan they argue is just a rework of the last one they tanked.
The farm bill is rife with GOP fights over amendments.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna threatened late Monday to “slaughter the farm bill” if pesticide provisions weren’t stripped out. MAHA advocates like Luna say the bill would shield pesticide companies from lawsuits, while farm state Republicans argue the measure would clarify labeling for critical and widely-used farm inputs.
Another farm bill problem is the continuing GOP fight over ethanol. Rules Committee Republican Reps. Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota, Randy Feenstra of Iowa and other midwestern GOP members are pushing for a vote on year-round sales of the E15 gasoline-ethanol blend.
As tempers flared, one Republican involved in the talks said the ethanol Republicans “went all in on an amendment” that failed to get consensus.
“Now they have to get something or else it’s probably lights-out for Feenstra’s governor bid and maybe a few House seats,” the person said.
“The incompetence is stunning,” House Rules ranking member Jim McGovern said in an interview. “We’re in the same place as we were last week.”
What else we’re watching:
— King’s speech prep: In his 20-minute address to Congress Tuesday, King Charles III is expected to tout the U.S.-U.K. relationship as one of “reconciliation and renewal” and “one of the greatest alliances in human history” — hitting a message that the two nations can promote security and prosperity for the world if they defend shared democratic values. Ahead of his 3 p.m. remarks, the king is scheduled to meet with the four top congressional leaders and have photo ops.
— Don’t bank on the ballroom: Republicans are clamoring for President Donald Trump to get his ballroom in the wake of Saturday’s shooting, but bills to greenlight it are going nowhere fast in Congress. Senate Democrats are unlikely to support a ballroom bill, and if Republicans try to go it alone they’ll face procedural and political hurdles that would make it difficult to tuck into their own party-line immigration enforcement bill.
