Give House Speaker Mike Johnson credit: He's now two for two (with President Trump's help) on votes this year that looked headed off the rails.

Why it matters: With a one-vote margin, Johnson is defying his doubters and increasing the odds he can hammer out the details of a massive tax and spending package this spring.

• He got the outline for "one big, beautiful bill" passed on Feb. 25. And he got a budget stopgap passed today. The hardest part is still to come.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the only GOP "no" on both votes.

• "They didn't even call me," Massie told reporters tonight after a massive MAGA pressure campaign against him.
• "The comments were put out there to keep other Republicans in line."

Zoom in: Trump's help was critical each time in getting the rest of the Republicans to bend.

• Look no further than House Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris (R-Md.), a habitual "no" vote on government funding, endorsing it at a press conference earlier today.
• "This is not your grandfather's continuing resolution," Harris said.

As we foretold last night, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also held the line.

• He whipped "no" and got everyone but Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) to vote no.
• "This CR is not perfect, but a shutdown would be worse," Golden said after voting yes.

What's next: House progressives are calling on the Senate to do what they didn't have the numbers to do: Kill the bill.

• "The Republican spending plan will supercharge Musk's theft from working people to pay for billionaire tax cuts. Senate Democrats must stop it," Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on X.

— Hans Nichols

A dozen House Republicans today helped their Democratic colleagues bypass Johnson and force a vote to allow House members to vote by proxy for up to three months after having children.

• "We won fair and square," declared Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), the Republican leader of the proxy voting revolt.

Why it matters: This is the third time in a year Republicans have ignored Johnson by joining what are known as discharge petitions, which force votes if 218 members sign onto them.

• Back in 2020, Johnson helped lead a GOP lawsuit aimed at eliminating COVID-era proxy voting.

Luna's bill with Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) — who gave birth in late January and has had to miss most votes since — would allow up to 12 weeks of proxy voting for new parents of either gender.

— Andrew Solender

Trump's top GOP detractors in Congress have something in common — they're from Kentucky.

• Massie: Trump has vowed to get personally involved in ousting Massie, who was the only House Republican to vote against the Trump-backed short-term spending bill.
• Sen. Rand Paul is expected to be the only Senate Republican to vote against the short-term spending package this week. Paul's relationship with Trumpworld has deteriorated over the years.
• Sen. Mitch McConnell: For the fourth time, McConnell voted against one of the president's nominees this week, opposing Lori Chavez-DeRemer as Labor secretary.

Massie is fundraising off Trump's primary threat.

• "He's attacking me and Canada. The difference is Canada will eventually cave," Massie told reporters.

Zoom in: Trump allies are carefully watching the race to replace McConnell when he retires next year.

• McConnell took aim today at the administration's handling of the war in Ukraine. "Freezing lethal assistance and intelligence support to Ukraine made Russia's job easier," he said in a Senate floor speech.
• "Daniel Cameron is literally Mitch's protégé," Donald Trump Jr. said of the former Kentucky attorney general in a podcast with Nate Morris, who is viewed as the outsider contender.
• "We can not replace Mitch McConnell in the US Senate with someone who is entirely controlled by Mitch McConnell," Trump Jr. posted on X.

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— Stef Kight

Sen. Adam Schiff's (D-Calif.) "all-of-the-above" approach to social media is starting to pay off.

Why it matters: Democrats are in the wilderness and admit they need a new media strategy. Schiff has embraced it all, from TikTok to YouTube, X and Bluesky.

• "We need to make sure people hear our message, and that we're not just talking to the same people over and over again," Schiff told us today.
• Schiff was the top-performing Democratic lawmaker on social media over the last month, according to data compiled by the Center for American Progress.

Zoom in: Schiff is using segments with content creators and short videos across platforms as a sort of rapid response to the Trump administration.

• Schiff's video last night on Trump's tariff policies got 550,000 views on YouTube within 12 hours.
• A Schiff interview with the liberal MeidasTouch after Trump's speech to Congress last week has over 2.2 million views on YouTube.
• "I'm finding there is a real appetite for it," Schiff said.

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— Stephen Neukam