Far from violence on the streets of Minneapolis and President Donald Trump’s threatened attacks on Iran and Greenland, House Speaker Mike Johnson is having a bad week.
House Republicans are furious with the Speaker after a minor rebellion by a small number of GOP members during a chaotic session on the floor Tuesday night saw a key GOP labor bill defeated and three others postponed, Politico reports.
Other targets of mounting ire from within party ranks include Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Majority Whip Tom Emmer. “They didn’t even whip the f–king bill,” one insider told the outlet. “It was unbelievably dumb and unbelievably reckless,” another said.
Amid the perceived lack of leadership, GOP Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan, Nick LaLaota, Jeff Van Drew, Chris Smith and Riley Moore, all known for their pro-labor stance, seized the opportunity to vote down the now-abandoned legislation, which would otherwise have allowed employers to forgo overtime pay for certain trainings.
Tuesday’s carnage on the floor comes amid shrinking Republican margins in the House following the shock resignation of former MAGA firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene and the sudden death of California Rep. Doug LaMalfa earlier this month.
At least 17 Republican representatives are also running for higher office, sparking concerns that they may now be more focused on campaigning at home than attending to matters on the Capitol.
House leadership does appear to have partly gotten the memo. Emmer’s office confirmed to NBC News it is advising representatives that “outside of life-and-death circumstances, the whip’s office expects members to be here working on behalf of the American people.”
In comments to Politico, Scalise said that in the future, when bills have been approved by a GOP committee, “we’re going to make our best effort to get it passed.”
“You don’t want days like yesterday,” he said. “On the bills that are the top priorities of our agenda, which we make very clear well in advance, we’re moving those bills. We have moved them, and we’ve got a lot more we’re going to be bringing this year, and we will pass those bills.”
Tuesday’s session wasn’t a complete bust. Republicans at least rallied to pass legislation on loosening federal standards on water pressure for showerheads, aimed at satisfying Trump’s long-trumpeted desire to “make showers great again.”
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