JOHNSON and THE DEAL?

On October 16 in support of Rep Jim Jordan’s Speaker bid, Rep Johnson at that time urged his colleagues in a tweet to stand with Rep Jordan and he highlighted three key voting points: Supporting Israel, Securing the Southern Border and Passing the Appropriations Bill. Fast forward to today, he’s now the 56th Speaker of the House. But there’s a big difference between being an elected congressman for the 4th Congressional district of Louisiana for seven years to being elected as the new Speaker of the House, there are new deals to be made not only across party lines but within the core of his GOP. The big question in everyone’s mind is, can Speaker Johnson do the deal? First off, November 17 is just around the corner for the next round of debt ceiling negotiations, how Speaker Johnson will navigate this issue will be the litmus test on how he deal across party lines and within his ranks. Second, the just passed partisan Energy appropriation bill with a vote of 210-199 showed that the Speaker can actually get things done particularly this appropriation bill targets 5 Billion in spending cuts from the Democrats signature legislation on climate, health care and tax breaks. But of course, Biden can veto this if it gets to his table, the Senate is another issue. Basically this appropriation bill might not move beyond the house borders unless Speaker Johnson can use this to negotiate partisan deals. And then of course there’s that White Elephant in the room, what to do with Donald. Well, the Speaker is known as a strong ally of Trump, if the former President wins in 2024, this means the Republican can move their goals quicker, thus Speaker Johnson will thread along the fine lines despite the growing legal troubles that Trump is currently facing right now. Johnson also has to navigate along the MAGA reps, he can never underestimate their growing influence across the party, with a slim majority, securing their trust is another deal that the Speaker needs to win.