WASHINGTON − Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., argued on Sunday that Republicans considering voting against House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for another term in his leadership post are “playing with fire.”
Lawler’s comments come after a government shutdown fight that divided some Republicans earlier this month. Johnson had supported a bipartisan deal to keep the government’s doors open, but he backed away from it after President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk attacked the plan.
A Trump-backed replacement bill failed in the House after Democrats and 38 Republicans voted against it. Dozens of Republican lawmakers also rejected the government funding agreement that the House ultimately passed just hours before the shutdown deadline.
House lawmakers on Friday are set to hold a formal vote on the speakership. Johnson picked up support from the Republican conference earlier this year to continue serving as speaker, but some Republicans haven’t committed to backing him this week.
“The fact is that Mike Johnson inherited a disaster when Matt Gaetz and several of my colleagues teamed up with 208 Democrats to remove Kevin McCarthy, which will go down as the single stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in politics,” Lawler told ABC’s “This Week.”
Eight Republicans, led by former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, ousted McCarthy after he worked with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown last year.
“With that said, removing Mike Johnson would equally be as stupid. The fact is that these folks are playing with fire, and if they think they’re somehow going to get a more conservative speaker, they’re kidding themselves,” he added.
Lawler warned in the interview that he doesn’t think the House can certify Trump’s win in the 2024 presidential election on Jan. 6 without a speaker. When McCarthy was ousted last year, the House was frozen for weeks as Republicans struggled to pick a new leader.
“To waste time over a nonsensical intramural food fight is a joke. And I think my colleagues, if they didn’t learn anything from the 118th Congress, it should be that we absolutely do not need a fight over the speakership,” he said.
One hardline conservative, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said he wouldn’t back Johnson for speaker, while other Republicans appear to be weighing whether to support him.
“I will vote for someone other than Mike Johnson. I’m not persuaded by the ‘hurry up and elect him so we can certify the election on J6’ argument. A weak legislative branch, beholden to the swamp, will not be able to achieve the mandate voters gave Trump and Congress in November,” Massie wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
