As President Donald Trump continues to wield near-unchallenged influence over House Republicans, he’s reportedly joked behind the scenes about effectively holding the position of both president and House speaker, two insiders revealed to *The New York Times* in a report published Saturday.
“I’m the speaker and the president,” Trump said jokingly, according to two insiders who spoke with *The Times* on the condition of anonymity.
As of Saturday, the House has been in recess for 25 days, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) refusing to reconvene the chamber until the Senate adopts a spending bill to fund the government and end the shutdown.
The dispute centers on health care subsidies set to expire this year. Republicans have refused to extend them, while Democrats have resisted supporting any spending bill that omits an extension.
Trump has voiced opposition to extending the subsidies as a way to resolve the government shutdown, a position that Johnson has supported by refusing to budge on the issue—even as divisions grow among Republican lawmakers.
Times reporter Annie Karni argued in an analysis published Saturday that Johnson’s dedication to supporting Trump’s wishes could ultimately weaken the position of House speaker in the years to come.
“[Johnson’s] approach [is one] born of political expedience that could have far-reaching consequences for an institution that has already ceded much of its power to President Trump,” Karni wrote.
She added, “And Mr. Johnson, who without the president’s backing has chosen to make himself subservient to Mr. Trump, is breaking with many speakers of the past who sought in their own ways to act more as a governing partner with the president than as his underling. Mr. Johnson has done little in recent weeks to contest the point.”
https://www.rawstory.com/mike-johnson-2674232609/
