May 9, 2026, 3:00 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON ‒ House Speaker Mike Johnson says he’s doing the impossible on Capitol Hill.
Over the last few weeks, he’s been hard at work skillfully negotiating with House Republicans and his Senate counterparts to enact President Donald Trump‘s legislative agenda in a critical midterm election year, despite a historically small voting margin.
That’s one way of looking at it.
Another perspective, as Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Johnson’s home state of Louisiana, put it: “Mike’s having a tough time.”
“He’s good,” the often-frank lawmaker said last month in the halls of the Capitol. “But he can’t work miracles.”
Kennedy’s observations came during a particularly challenging week in the House. Republican infighting was on full display as Johnson struggled to cobble together the votes needed to advance a farm bill, extend a critical government spying program, and end the record-long Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
The GOP family drama caused typically painless procedural votes to drag on for hours. At one point, a Republican from Iowa, Rep. Zach Nunn, yelled at Johnson from across the House floor, saying the pair needed to “have a conversation.”
“It’s been a whirlwind,” Nunn said the morning after a bout of late-night negotiations over sticking points in the farm bill. Though that legislation passed, it still faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where a provision over cancer warnings on pesticides continues to pit farm-state Republicans against “Make America Healthy Again” proponents.
Gridlock risky for Republicans in November
The congressional gridlock, both within and between the Republican-controlled chambers, has already had clear consequences for the American people. Fierce disagreements between GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate were part of the reason the DHS shutdown dragged on, leaving tens of thousands of federal workers worried about their paychecks and travelers fretting over the return of long airport security lines.
But as the midterms draw closer, each public intraparty brawl carries greater risks for the GOP. Democrats, already favored to win back the House in November, are sure to seize on every such squabble to undermine Republicans’ pitch to voters that Congress should remain fully under conservative control.
Hanging in the balance is Trump’s last chance – possibly ever – to notch big legislative wins.
“Sometimes the process around here is cumbersome. That’s the way this works,” Johnson told reporters recently. “But in spite of our razor-thin, historically small majority, House Republicans continue to deliver for the American people.”
Johnson’s shrinking wiggle room
Congress has been straining to do the basics of legislative “for a while,” according to Rep. Kevin Kiley.
The California congressman, a Republican-turned-Independent who still caucuses with the GOP, argued the ongoing dysfunction is the fault of no one person ‒ Johnson included.
“He’s operating under, I’d say, especially challenging circumstances,” Kiley told USA TODAY.
At the moment, the speaker can only afford two defections on any given vote. That leaves barely any wiggle room amid a tight legislative schedule – not to mention the fact that yet another scandal-ridden House Republican, North Carolina Rep. Chuck Edwards, could face a vote soon costing him his job.
Acrimony between House and Senate Republicans over several issues ‒ from enacting voting restrictions to lowering the Senate’s 60-vote threshold known as the filibuster ‒ isn’t making it any easier to get important legislation across the finish line from now to November.
Even Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, hasn’t been able to fully mask his frustration with the other chamber. On April 29, a reporter asked him outside his office how the Senate can keep functioning amid the latest logistical turmoil in the House. Frustrated, Thune shook his head.
“We do what we can,” he said.
Meanwhile, there’s a lot on Congress’ plate, including a GOP plan to funnel more than $70 billion to immigration enforcement, plus another $1 billion for security in a new White House ballroom. The Pentagon is also preparing a supplemental defense spending request amid the Iran war, which has already cost taxpayers roughly $25 billion.
There are bipartisan efforts afoot, too: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are clamoring to enact changes to rein in a spy law. Others want to get to work soon to put more guardrails on online betting. And a massive bipartisan housing reform bill is working its way through both chambers, though it’s been stalled in the House for weeks due to concerns from some Republicans.
“When you’re operating within such a small majority, especially, it’s maybe a good reason to try and do things in a bipartisan way whenever possible,” Kiley said. “The math becomes a lot easier then. And it tends to lead to better policy as well.”
Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.
