Axios Hill Leaders

December 19, 2025
Happy Friday! This newsletter is going dark for the holidays, back in your inboxes on Jan. 5. Today's edition is 976 words, 3.5 minutes.
- π House work-from-nowhere
- β‘οΈ Trump's challenger endorsement
- π€Ί Bitter Dem feud returns
- π¦ Top House lawmakers on Google
π¨ Situational awareness:
- Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) is retiring, she announced this afternoon.
- Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is ending her campaign for governor and won't run for reelection in the House, she said today.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed "serious legal and political consequences" if the Justice Department fails to fully comply with releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files by today's deadline. The DOJ released a big batch this afternoon.
1 big thing: π House work-from-nowhere


House lawmakers barely edged out COVID-era voting days in 2025, despite being in the make-or-break year for President Trump's MAGA agenda.
Why it matters: House Speaker Mike Johnson's lawmakers are frustrated and losing their cool, and aside from the "one big, beautiful bill," Republicans don't have much to brag about.
- "You cannot deliberate with your colleagues if you're out somewhere else," Johnson said in March, arguing against allowing new parents to proxy vote.
π But Johnson kept the House out for 54 days during the government shutdown, a major contributor to the year's unusually light calendar.
- Johnson argued the House had "done its job" by passing a clean government funding measure. At the time, most of his conference was publicly supportive of the approach.
- The speaker also frequently canceled votes when internal tensions flared or legislation wasn't going his way, further shrinking days of floor action.
- His use of distance as a governing tool helped seal the deal on crucial votes. But it came at a cost.
The other side: "Congressional Republicans executed the most ambitious and successful agenda by any Republican Congress in history," a Johnson spokesperson told us, pointing to the passage of the "Working Families Tax Cut," and the codification of 70 of Trump's executive orders.
π₯ Between the lines: When lawmakers returned from their two-month hiatus, the agenda was filled with resolutions to punish colleagues, infighting and even a literal fire at the Capitol that some viewed as a fitting metaphor for the state of the House.
- Members across the spectrum are frustrated by the chamber's inaction, with many acknowledging that little has been accomplished since passing the "big, beautiful bill."
- That includes failing to pass any appropriations bills since the shutdown ended.
- It also includes letting Democrats seize the initiative on Affordable Care Act subsidies, which will expire at the end of this year, by forcing a vote in January.
π What they're saying: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told us Johnson "squandered" Republicans' opportunity to move their agenda while they control all of Washington.
- "This has not exactly been the finest hour for the U.S. House of Representatives. Over the last several months, the House has been missing in action in a lot of ways," Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) said in early December.
- Congress has been "sidelined by Johnson under full obedience" to the White House, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said in her resignation statement.
The bottom line: "There's a lot of palpable frustration, which is why I think you're seeing a lot of people retire, you're seeing a lot of people leave," Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) told us.
β Kate Santaliz
2. β‘οΈ Trump's challenger endorsement
The NRCC's formal policy is not to endorse in GOP primaries. But Trump has started backing GOP challengers.
- Trump endorsed former Maine Gov. Paul LePage yesterday in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine).
- He backed former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln in his bid to unseat Rep. Adam Gray (D-Calif.).
- And he endorsed Eric Flores, a federal prosecutor, over former Rep. Mayra Flores in Texas. Mayra Flores blasted the move, writing that "President Trump first pardoned Democrat Henry Cuellar and is now endorsing a Biden DOJ appointee pretending to be MAGA."
The big picture: The White House and the NRCC have previously coordinated behind the scenes to shape GOP fields, including pushing swing-district Republicans away from their higher-office ambitions.
- Trump has so far stayed on the sidelines in the contentious GOP Senate primaries in Texas and Georgia.
What they're saying: "From secure borders to lower costs, Republicans are delivering wins for every American family β and we are just getting started," Johnson told us in a statement.
- "Working hand-in-hand with President Donald Trump and [NRCC] Chairman Richard Hudson, we are recruiting and supporting America First candidates across the country who are ready to help us defend and grow our majority and continue America's comeback."
β Kate Santaliz and Hans Nichols
3. π€Ί Bitter Dem feud returns
"Medicare for All" is starting to fracture Democrats in Senate races, much like it did in the 2016 and 2020 presidential primaries.
Why it matters: Party leaders like Schumer want to make the midterms a referendum on affordability and health care.
- But top progressives view the 2026 primaries as a critical opportunity to remake their case for Medicare for All ahead of 2028.
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told us this week that "the opportunity now is to prove aggressively that Medicare for All is right."
Zoom in: In Maine, progressive Graham Platner supports Medicare for All. Maine Gov. Janet Mills, the pick of party leaders, has called on Congress to extend expiring ACA tax credits.
- In Michigan, progressive Abdul El-Sayed has backed Medicare for All for years. Mallory McMorrow has bashed Medicare for All but supports a public option. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) wants to strengthen the ACA.
- In Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who has the support of national progressives, is backing Medicare for All. Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) supports a public option but not Medicare for All.
The bottom line: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told us this week that Democrats' "next step is to stop tinkering with a broken system."
β Stephen Neukam
4. π¦ Top House lawmakers on Google
This newsletter was edited by Justin Green and copy edited by Kathie Bozanich.
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