House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) may have one of the toughest jobs in Washington right now, but President-elect Donald Trump has offered him a lifeline. If the Louisiana lawmaker can act “decisively and tough” and overcome “all the traps being set by Democrats,” Trump predicted he will “easily remain Speaker” in the next Congress.
Trump, speaking with Fox News, expanded on his comments from Wednesday. He warned Republicans of primary challenges if they fail to reduce a bloated spending package that has ignited anger among his conservative base and been fueled by Elon Musk, the incoming co-head of a new Department of Government Efficiency. A number of MAGA lawmakers have opposed the bill, pointing to the excessive spending sought by Democrats to secure their votes if Johnson ultimately needs their support for passage. Trump’s remarks came just hours after the bipartisan deal was nearly derailed.
“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “If the speaker acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats, which will economically and, in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain speaker.”
EXCLUSIVE: President-elect Donald #Trump told me @SpeakerJohnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” and eliminates “all of the traps being set by Democrats” in the spending package @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/La0g63iz5v
— Brooke Singman (@BrookeSingman) December 19, 2024
In addition to his verbal intervention, Trump sent Vice President-elect J.D. Vance to meet with Johnson on Wednesday. After the meeting, Vance told reporters that they had a “productive conversation,” expressing confidence that they would “be able to solve some problems here” and continue “working on it,” according to the outlet.
The 1,547-page bill was meant to sustain federal spending at current FY2024 levels until March, at which point Republican majorities in both the House and Senate might review the agreement and seemingly reduce the spending limit for additional approvals. On Wednesday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich openly recommended that Johnson consider a “shorter resolution” lasting only a few weeks, allowing a Republican-led Washington to gain momentum for negotiating a more favorable deal in January.
“Well, I think, first of all, the whole idea of the DOGE Committee has already paid for itself by having Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy begin to point out all the dumb things in this bill,” Gingrich said on Fox News. “The obvious answer is, kill this bill, pass a very short continuing resolution to get the new Republican Senate installed, and negotiate a new bill before January 20 that covers the rest of the year and gets the job done.”
