Retiring Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Friday that Democrats would likely save Mike Johnson from getting booted as House speaker by his own conference.
Romney’s prediction comes amid a Breitbart report that up to 25 House Republicans are likely to vote against Johnson’s reelection as speaker on Jan 3. Republicans have a five-seat majority in the 119th Congress.
Johnson’s grip on the speakership is tenuous after this week's budget battles. The first iteration of a stopgap bill this week that he supported and put forth added hundreds of billions in new spending despite it being a three-month continuing resolution. A plan B stopgap was broadly shot down as conservatives railed against Johnson’s inclusion of suspending the debt ceiling, an initiative of President-elect Donald Trump.
“There may be an effort to blow everything up but I don't think — I think the Democrats are smarter than that. They'd give him support,” Romney told reporters.
Despite a third iteration passing easily in the House on Friday evening, it might be too much for Johnson to overcome.
Johnson, notably, on Friday night said he was “in constant contact with President Trump throughout this process.” Two days ago, Trump scolded Johnson for falling for the “Democrat trap” of advancing a CR that was bloated with new spending, telling NBC News this week “we’ll see” if he still has confidence in Johnson.
However, Trump said Thursday that Johnson will “easily remain speaker,” provided he “acts decisively and tough and gets rid of all the traps being set by Democrats.”