Republican lawmakers struggle with 'challenge' of 'razor-thin' House majority: report

Donald Trump's plans for the start of his second presidency will be complicated by a razor-thin Republican House majority. The GOP conference will have just 220 members, two fewer than the five-seat majority that House speaker Mike Johnson struggled to lead since taking over for Kevin McCarthy, and Republicans can only afford to lose support from two of them to reach the 218 votes needed to approve legislation without support from Democrats, reported the Washington Post. “We know how to work with a small majority; that’s our custom now.” Pushback on those bills could force them to wait until the two vacant Florida seats are filled by special elections in April, but House Republicans are counting on Trump to pressure reluctant lawmakers into going along with the majority. “The way the House and the Senate needs to understand the mandate is that the American people want president Trump’s agenda done,” Greene said. “This wasn’t a ‘we support Republicans’ election.” But some Republicans believe Johnson will be forced to rely on Democrats to pass legislation over the objections of a small faction of the GOP caucus, as he and McCarthy both had to do in the outgoing Congress, especially on days where Republican absences give them the majority for a day.