Dozens of Speaker Mike Johnson's own members are racing to solve Republicans' most urgent political problem — without his help.

Why it matters: House Republicans are nowhere close to consensus and the speaker's olive branch to moderates — a show vote extending the Affordable Care Act's enhanced subsidies that expire in two weeks — could be in trouble.

• "We are rightly going to reject this enrichment of the insurance companies," Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas.), who sits on the powerful House Rules Committee, said today on Fox News.
• Moderates are vowing to extract a concession — or derail the whole package on Wednesday — if their show vote is scuttled.

Zoom in: There are now three discharge petitions aimed at forcing a vote to extend the ACA subsidies, a direct circumvention of GOP leadership.

• Two of them — one led by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and the other by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) — already have a substantial number of Republican signatures.
• The third petition, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, would need only four GOP signatures to force a vote, giving moderates enormous leverage.

—Kate Santaliz

First it was Zohran Mamdani ally Chi Ossé flirting with — then skipping — a primary challenge against Jeffries.

• Now it's Jonathan Paz mounting a left-wing primary challenge against House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.).

Why it matters: Clark is the highest-ranking Democrat to face an active intra-party threat to her reelection at a time when progressives across the country are trying to unseat establishment incumbents.

• Dozens of House Democrats face anti-establishment primary challenges from insurgents who say they will do a better job of taking on President Trump.
• "Listen, everybody is entitled to run, and we look forward to a vigorous campaign," Clark told us about a Paz challenge.

The bottom line: Paz will have an uphill battle. Clark reported having $1.8 million in campaign funds going into October of this year.

— Andrew Solender

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) voted "no" tonight on a procedural vote for the National Defense Authorization Act to protest House-passed language on air traffic safety, he told us.

Why it matters: Cruz is putting Senate Majority Leader John Thune on notice — both for the NDAA, but also for a government funding bill that Congress must pass next.

• "We need to strike this section," Cruz said about a provision the House included in the NDAA. "It does not belong in the bill, and I'm gonna press very hard to strike okay."
• He also hinted that he's going to use an appropriations bill next month to try and force Congress to adopt his approach to improving communication between military and civilian aircraft.

Driving the news: Last week, the House included language in the NDAA that would relax the current rules for military aircraft flying around Ronald Reagan National Airport, according to National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Cruz.

• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had issued new regulations in response to the Jan. 29, 2025 collision between a U.S. Army helicopter and an American Airlines jet above the capital that killed 67 people.
• "This is shameful," Homendy said last week about the new language.

Zoom in: Cruz and Cantwell were holding out hope that the Rotor Act, which creates new rules on sending and receiving flight information around major metropolitan airports, would be included in the NDAA.

• Not only was it not included, but the new DOT rules were modified.
• Cruz is talking with Thune about including an amendment on the Senate floor to strike the House-passed NDAA language, but it's highly unlikely to be included in this week's vote.
• The amendment, if it passed, would require the House to revote on the NDAA and accept the Senate's modifications.

The bottom line: Cruz isn't directly threatening to vote against the next government funding bill if he doesn't get his way on air safety.

• But he's clearly contemplating it.
• "Eleven months ago, 67 souls perished in a collision over DCA that was imminently preventable," he said.
• "We have an obligation to the flying public, to all our families, to do everything we can to prevent another fatal accident from happening."

— Hans Nichols