While House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) prevailed to win election from his caucus last week, that hasn't stopped some of his fellow Republicans from taking anonymous shots at him.
Politico reported Monday that tensions are already bubbling between House and Senate Republicans over the proper legislative strategy for enacting President-elect Donald Trump's second-term agenda.
Johnson and members of the House want to pass one large budget reconciliation package to get to Trump's desk by April, while Senate Republicans would prefer to get a border security package through quickly before turning to tax policy.
Johnson went out on Sunday and claimed that Trump supported his preferred approach for one large bill, which prompted some brushback from Republicans on the Senate side.
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“Unfortunately, Mike Johnson doesn’t have a ton of credibility because he has gotten ahead of himself before,” one unnamed Senate Republican aide told the publication.
Aides in the House, meanwhile, took shots at their Senate counterparts for supposedly being bad sports about losing this particular battle.
“It is a decided thing,” a House GOP aide told Politico. “I’m sure they’re not happy.”
Another House Republican, meanwhile, took a shot at Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) for getting ahead of himself in declaring that Trump's priorities would be split into two deals — instead of one big one.
“It’s not a good first step as leader," the Republican said of Thune.
Trump entered the fray with a Sunday post on social media post in which he supported a single bill that encompassed much of his agenda.
"Members of Congress are getting to work on one powerful Bill that will bring our Country back, and make it greater than ever before. We must Secure our Border, Unleash American Energy, and Renew the Trump Tax Cuts," he wrote.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), however, said that he supported the approach being advocated by Johnson because he had a hard time believing that Republicans in the House would be able to get more than one bill passed.
“It seems more realistic — especially given the recent speaker’s election — that we may only get one bite at the apple because you have a highly thoughtful, and a highly dysfunctional, House,” Mullin explained.
