By: The Editorial Board – wsj.com – December 30, 2024

Will Republicans re-elect Mike Johnson, or melt down again?

Donald Trump on Monday endorsed Mike Johnson for another term as Speaker when the House votes to convene the 119th Congress on Friday, and that’s the smart move. The vote will test whether House Republicans are serious about governing or whether they’ll descend again into political masochism.

Mr. Johnson has earned re-election given his handling of the narrow GOP House majority and the impossible circumstances he inherited. A group of malcontents deposed Kevin McCarthy out of personal spite, and what did that accomplish? Nothing of substance we can see. Mr. Johnson was an almost accidental replacement after more prominent Members failed to get a majority.

But the man from Louisiana has quietly risen to the occasion. He listens to all factions in the riven GOP caucus. He’s as conservative as anyone in the House, but he’s also a student of the Constitution and a realist about the difficulty of legislating in the American system. You can’t always get what you want, but you try to get what you need—that is, the 218 votes to pass something.

The trouble is a rump, blow-it-all-up GOP faction that wants to make statements more than law. They’re threatening to take down Mr. Johnson, though they don’t have an alternative. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie has declared that he’ll oppose Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Massie opposes just about everything. This means the Speaker has to keep everyone else on side if all Members are voting on Friday.

Defeating Mr. Johnson would send the House into disarray, and to what end? Some Members may be holding their votes in reserve to angle for some better committee post in return for voting yes. But that’s the trouble with the House GOP: Too many Members are looking out for themselves rather than the larger political good. And the narrow majority gives them more leverage than they deserve.

The stakes are considerable. Voters have given Republicans a rare trifecta of government control—both houses of Congress and the White House. Their majorities are narrow, but this is still an historic opportunity to pass significant reform. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer can use the 60-vote filibuster rule to defeat much of what Republicans want. Never mind that he said this year he expected to kill the filibuster if Democrats had scored a trifecta.

But Republicans can pass a tax and spending bill via budget reconciliation, which avoids the filibuster. And on issues that were litigated in the election, some Democrats might be willing to come along. Think energy, border security and immigration, and some anti-woke cultural measures. But Republicans will have to demonstrate unity and discipline. Then swing Democrats would have to decide between their party and political vulnerability in 2026.

Voters expect results, and the GOP won’t be able to dodge responsibility now that they’re in charge. If Republicans can’t even elect a Speaker without a meltdown, it will bode ill for the next two years. Down that disruptive path lies Democratic Speaker Hakeem Jeffries in 2027, if not sooner, and the effective end of the second Trump Presidency.

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Source: The House GOP’s Speaker Test – WSJ