Mike Johnson Will Need a Lot of On-the-Job Training
The new House speaker has a well-deserved reputation as an ideologue, but his new role requires him to be a pragmatist.
Maybe he can muddle through.
Photographer: Matt McClain/The Washington Post
Before asking whether new House Speaker Mike Johnson is up to the task ahead of him, it’s worth detailing just how challenging that task is.
Congress must pass spending bills for the remainder of the current fiscal year — beginning with another temporary extension needed in just three weeks. It must approve the annual military authorization bill and the farm bill, which covers food assistance programs. It must debate extra spending for Israel and other global crises. And this is all happening in a House that was already behind schedule even before Republicans threw away three weeks arguing over the speakership, and whose Republican majority opposes the positions that the majority of the Senate supports.