Johnson navigates packed legislative agenda as Republicans return to Washington

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is facing an arduous stretch ahead as Republicans return to Washington this week to confront a tough legislative calendar that promises to splinter the GOP conference just five months from November’s midterms. 

Republican leaders are racing to adopt two major legislative priorities that were left unresolved ahead of the long Memorial Day break: extending the government’s warrantless spying powers, an issue that’s split the party for years, and funding for immigration enforcement, which got bogged down by GOP blowback over $1 billion for President Trump’s ballroom and a $1.8 billion fund to reward MAGA allies who feel victimized by federal prosecutors.

Democrats, meanwhile, are vowing to force a vote this week on a resolution to end Trump’s war with Iran — a measure that appears to have enough GOP support to pass. 

The combination presents a difficult return to the Capitol for GOP leaders fighting to keep control of the House next year — and creates yet another test of the Speaker’s abilities to unite a fractious conference behind Trump’s agenda even as the president’s approval ratings continue to fall.

“We got to get busy. We got to… get the Democrats out of the way, and secure our border, and help get the funding necessary. But Republicans need to deliver. There’s a lot of things we have not done. We’ve not codified border security. We’ve not backed up the president in a lot of areas, and so we need to get busy in the next few weeks getting the job done,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told Fox News on Monday. 

Johnson can afford to lose just two votes on any party-line measure.

The most pressing deadline is Section 702 of the Foreign........

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