Republicans turn on House speaker as shutdown deadline nears

House Speaker Mike Johnson is making no one happy, including his leadership team and Republican conference. They are looking to him to lead in averting a government shutdown, and they are getting sermons instead. Senior lawmakers are looking to him to make decisions on those funding bills, and he’s giving them lectures on the process of passing bills, a thing they know a lot more about than him since he hasn’t had the job of appropriating, ever.

One of those senior lawmakers, Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, was pretty brutal in his assessment.

“Now, we are in a fully Johnson-run House, and he’s got to own all the decision making in the 12 appropriations bills. That’s probably not best for him. Probably not best for public policy either,” McHenry, who is retiring this year, told CNN. “It’s actually drug out what is sort of inevitable here, which is we will either perform to the (spending caps) or have a government shutdown.”

Another member, speaking anonymously to Politico, said that Johnson’s efforts to unify his team at a GOP retreat in Florida this week fell flat. “I’m not at church,” the member said, calling Johnson’s address “horrible.” The lawmaker continued, “I think what he was trying to do, but failed on the execution of it, was try to bring us together. … The sermon was so long he couldn't bring it back to make the point.”