Johnson risks opening up a second front in the GOP's budget revolt
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House Speaker Mike Johnson arrives for a Republican conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol on April 8. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is angling to use a key budget vote to crush Democrats' plan to force a vote on blocking President Trump's across-the-board tariffs.
Why it matters: The move could invite opposition from a cohort of free trade-minded GOP lawmakers who are increasingly uneasy with the White House's trade policies and the resulting stock market turmoil.
- Johnson is already grappling with a revolt of Republican budget hawks threatening to vote against the Senate budget resolution, which they say doesn't go far enough in cutting government spending.
- With the House barreling towards a Wednesday afternoon procedural vote, the GOP speaker's path to success remains murky.
Driving the news: A Republican procedural measure to bring the budget resolution to the House floor for a vote includes language that would prohibit the House from voting to block Trump's tariffs for the next six months.
- It does so by making it impossible to introduce a measure to end the national emergency upon which Trump's tariffs are based for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.
- The move comes after Trump slammed "rebel" Republicans who are "grandstanding" by speaking out against his tariffs.
Flashback: Republicans slipped similar language into a measure to advance last month's government funding bill, which blocked the House from voting to revoke Trump's Canada, Mexico and China tariffs.
- Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who is leading a bill to give Congress the power to block a president's tariffs, said of that vote: "We made a mistake."
- Bacon, one of just three House Republicans in districts that voted for Kamala Harris last year, has two Republican co-sponsors on his bill — including fellow swing-district Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.).
- Bacon told Axios that 10 other GOP colleagues have expressed interest in signing on to his bill.
What to watch: House Democrats' primary super PAC is putting the squeeze on those vulnerable House Republicans, threatening to hit them with ads if they vote to restrict their own power to block Trump's tariffs.
- "House Republicans will today vote to tank the economy, destroy retirement savings, lay off workers, and raise prices," said CJ Warnke, a spokesperson for House Majority PAC.
- "HMP thanks them for writing our ads for us."
