The headline at Politico doesn't seem to bode well for the House speaker: "Why Mike Johnson is losing control of the House," it reads. The analysis looks at how a once-rare maneuver in the chamber to defy the speaker's will has succeeded a remarkable five times over his two-year reign, and more are in the pipeline. The maneuver is the "discharge petition," and rank-and-file lawmakers resort to it when the speaker refuses to bring one of their bills up for a vote. The most notable example for Johnson occurred when the House used it to force a vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.
As with that example, the successful discharge petitions are most often coming from fellow Republicans. A separate piece at Punchbowl News reports that Johnson's leadership team may try to change the rules to make it harder for discharge petitions to succeed, the current threshold being 218 votes. "This will never pass," the outlet adds. "But it does underscore just how frustrated the leadership is with losing control of the House." Johnson's bigger trouble may come via the sentiment of one "exhausted" (and unnamed) House Republican, who accuses the speaker of being too focused on doing the president's bidding.
"This entire White House team has treated all members like garbage," says the lawmaker. "All. And Mike Johnson has let it happen because he wanted it to happen. That is the sentiment of nearly all—appropriators, authorizers, hawks, doves, rank and file." And the kicker: "More explosive early resignations are coming. It's a tinder box. Morale has never been lower. Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel and they will lose the majority before this term is out."
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