Mike Johnson has handed over powers that usually rest with the speaker to Trump.
It’s become a running joke among some Republican members: Speaker Mike Johnson has had to rely on President Donald Trump so much, Trump is actually the one running the House.
Trump is in on the joke too.
In at least one meeting with Johnson and a handful of other lawmakers, Trump teased Johnson over how much the speaker has had to lean on the president to get members in line, three sources told NOTUS.
“I have two jobs: being president and being speaker,” Trump said.
But it’s more than just a joke. Time and again, Johnson has summoned Trump to cajole members into supporting Republicans’ agenda. Johnson can lose only two Republican votes on any partisan legislation, and the disparate factions of his caucus are often diametrically opposed to each other. That’s usually when Johnson gets Trump to make phone calls to holdouts and the president berates them until they do what he wants.
“He’s the one getting everyone in line,” one House Republican said of Trump.
Occasionally, Trump’s whip efforts have played out in real time on the House floor in full view of everyone.
Last year as Republicans were attempting to pass a measure for their reconciliation bill, Trump was on the phone with the GOP holdouts whose names were lit up on the board above the press gallery as having voted “No.”
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Indiana) was handed a phone with Trump on the other end of the line in the cloakroom off the House floor. Two sources described Spartz as trying to talk while noticeably crying during the call. After they were done and she left the cloakroom, Trump, who was on speakerphone, said: “I have no fucking idea what she just said.” (A spokesperson for Spartz disputed the account as “incorrect” but said she does not share her private conversations.)
When Johnson was trying to hold onto the gavel in January last year, Trump actively called the members who had voted against the speaker and convinced them to flip their votes.
But it’s not just winning votes. At times, Johnson has handed over other powers that usually rest with the speaker.
According to two sources who spoke with NOTUS, Johnson has in several instances directed members seeking to bring legislation to the floor to obtain the administration’s approval first.
“It is a total shirking of responsibilities to the White House,” another House Republican told NOTUS. “Everything has to be preordained and pre-blessed, and there’s very little that we’re able to have our own will on. We should be empowered to pass our own priorities, not just follow what the mandate of the day is.”
A senior GOP aide pushed back on the idea that relying on the president is a bad thing.
“Given that the President has to sign the bills that Congress passes for them to become law, it stands to reason that the White House would have input into and help pass the legislative agenda that Republican House Members and the President ran on and that 77.3 million Americans voted for,” the aide said.
Despite their many complaints, members did point to a number of achievements in this Congress. From a sweeping reconciliation bill to crypto legislation and rescission packages, members and the administration hailed the accomplishments Johnson and the White House were able to see through.
“Ultimately the speaker is the speaker, and he’s done a phenomenal job with the narrowest majority in nearly a century in the House,” a senior White House official told NOTUS. “He’s got an extraordinary relationship with the administration. He’s trusted, he’s authoritative, and I think the president’s spoken publicly any number of times about how much he appreciates and admires the speaker. So, I don’t think there’s anything unusual about close collaboration when the majority is this tight.”
A spokesperson for Johnson said in a statement that while “there is always a healthy tension between the legislative and executive branches in our constitutional structure, the point of unified government is that voters expect the party in charge to work efficiently and effectively together to solve the nation’s problems.”
“Speaker Johnson is proud to have a strong and productive working relationship with the President that has delivered countless positive legislative results for the American people, in spite of the razor-thin margin of the House majority — including lower taxes, secure borders, reduced crime, a return to American energy dominance, massive reductions in burdensome regulations, fraud, waste and abuse, and so much more,” the spokesperson continued.
However, the level of influence the administration holds over day-to-day decision-making in the House has baffled longtime members.
“In my adult lifetime, I have not seen an executive branch with as much input and influence over the chamber than this one has,” Rep. Steve Womack (R-Arkansas), who’s a loyal Republican vote, said.
Members do recognize that Johnson is limited in his ability to win over holdouts because of the conference’s slim majority. Moreover, the Republican Conference is filled with members who are perfectly fine holding up the GOP agenda, so Johnson’s hands are often tied.
“The speaker is limited in his ability to create consensus among the rank and file,” Womack added. “And because it doesn’t take but one or two, there’s always one or two. I know the speaker would like for the House to probably be more of a chamber that works its will and doesn’t require the executive branch to have to help get things finished, but you know, it’s just where we are right now.”
The senior White House official told NOTUS that the administration is so involved is because there’s really no room for error. They added that “because you have different factions and different problems in each and every legislative situation,” there isn’t room for them to work any differently.
“You have to solve all of the problems, every vote, every single time, with virtually every member,” the official said.
Many lawmakers believe a small group of hard-line conservatives hold too much power over Johnson — threatening to withhold their votes without significant concessions that he often gives in to.
“Those that have been willing to hold up the floor for their own whims are getting their way every day,” the House Republican member added. “And it’s wearing on the rank and file, the people that show up to do the right thing and believe in teamwork rather than individualism.”
The senior White House official concurred, saying that the “frustrations from the more moderate and team playing members are certainly shared within the administration.”
Because Johnson relies on Trump to get things done, members believe that Johnson has simply gone along with whatever Trump wants rather than push for what his own conference might want. This Congress, Johnson has worked to kill bills from coming to the floor that could prove critical of Trump, even if his own members support the legislation. This includes resolutions that disapprove of the administration’s tariffs and conflicts abroad.
While at times he’s shown willingness to push back on behalf of his conference, most recently with the so-called “anti-weaponization” fund, members believe those instances are few and far between.
Johnson’s efforts to stifle those votes has led to rebellion from his party at times. Republicans have signed onto multiple Democratic-led discharge petitions, allowing them to gain enough signatures to get on the floor. GOP leadership has resorted to pulling resolutions at the last minute because they didn’t have the votes to kill them.
“The speaker has felt like, since they’re from the same party, there’s not a need for checks and balances. I disagree,” retiring Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon said. “I think we could have provided more feedback on tariffs, Ukraine, and other things, like the ballroom.”
California Rep. Kevin Kiley, an Independent who caucuses with Republicans, also said he believes Congress needs to reclaim its “constitutional authority” from the administration. But there’s been little evidence of any appetite to do so, from Johnson on down. And members who do stand up to Trump have found themselves on the losing end of primary challenges.
The White House official pushed back on this narrative, calling it a long-standing “canard” that if Republicans back the administration, it means they aren’t fulfilling their constitutional authority of providing checks and balances.
“What the media means when they say this stuff is they mean that upholding your constitutional authority is opposing the administration. That’s just not what it is,” the official said. “And most Republicans, in fact 99.99% of Republicans, see through that and vote where their long-standing policy positions are.”
Abigail Johnson, a White House spokesperson, described the relationship between Trump and Johnson as “great” and said that Trump “has enjoyed working closely with him to advance the America First agenda he was elected to enact, including the largest tax cut for working Americans in history. The entire White House looks forward to maintaining this positive relationship and delivering more wins for the American people.”
But while members have plenty of complaints, they also don’t know who could do any better, given the current makeup of the conference.
“People who want to criticize Mike have a very limited understanding of how complicated it is to manage the House,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-South Dakota) said. “I can’t imagine anybody who’d be doing a better job right now. It’s not always pretty, there’s plenty of broken china along the way, but ultimately he’s delivered victories with a much greater frequency than people have expected.”
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) agreed, saying he believes Johnson has run this Congress “as well as anybody can.”
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “But it’s frustrating to everybody. Any time the majorities are this small, you empower the fringe groups, no matter which party happens to be in power. And we have a lot of people here that use it, that exploit the rules rather than follow them.”