Welcome to Washington: Mike Johnson’s No Good, Very Bad Week Ahead

If there’s one thing members of Congress love to do, it’s talk — so much so that those lawmakers who habitually refuse to speak to the press could likely fit together in a small elevator. On Monday, those chatty House members will return to Washington, D.C., for their first full week of work in two months. The things they have to say — and the votes they are going to be forced to take — could cause some headaches for Speaker Mike Johnson. Welcome to Washington, where the House of Representatives is flying into town on Monday for a rare five-day work week. In that period, lawmakers will take votes on the Epstein files, a repeal of a right of private action against the Justice Department for senators, and possibly a bill to ban congressional stock trading. Congress famously does not have the most strenuous work schedule. On average, the legislative branch is only at the Capitol to work for around 150 days per year — about 40 percent less than the average American. Between September 19 and Monday, the House has worked only a single day, and that was just to pass the Senate-approved continuing resolution to re-open the government. The issues at hand starting Monday will be much more contentious. The first and most important thing that could weigh on President Trump is a bill which would force the Justice Department to disclose all government files related to Jeffrey Epstein. The president spent the weekend attacking one of his most ardent backers, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, for — as Ms. Greene alleges — her support of releasing the Epstein files. “It has all come down to the Epstein files, and that is shocking,” Ms. Greene told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday after Mr. Trump began calling her a “traitor,” among other things. “I’m standing with the women, and I will continue to do my small part to get the files released.”Many lawmakers will have plenty to say about Mr. Trump and Ms. Greene, but for anyone who knows anything about the president, you know that Mr. Trump has not yet had the last word. On Sunday night, he urged Republicans to vote for the Epstein files bill on Tuesday, though he did not make clear if he would sign that bill should it come to his desk. One lawmaker, Congressman Troy Nehls, is already deploying Mr. Trump’s rhetoric in respect of the Epstein files. “The Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax to distract us from the winning of President Trump and his administration,” Mr. Nehls wrote on X on Friday. “My message to my Republican colleagues: Don’t let this noise keep us from delivering on the mandate the American people gave us.”The bill to force a disclosure of the Epstein files will certainly pass, with every Democrat and at least half-a-dozen Republicans so far saying that they will vote for the bill. The most important question is just how many members of Republican leadership — including Mr. Johnson himself — vote for the legislation. The speaker is also set to pass a bill aimed at repealing a cause of private action against the Justice Department for certain senators who had their phone records obtained as part of the “Arctic Frost” investigation. That probe dealt with Mr. Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. At least eight GOP senators had their phone records subpoenaed by federal law enforcement, and they will each now be entitled to — at minimum — $500,000 as a result of the bill passed by Congress last week. Mr. Johnson told The New York Sun that he wants to claw that provision back as soon as possible, which could create some tension with his Senate colleagues.“I was surprised by the addition of that provision in the bill, and I’m certainly not happy about it,” Mr. Johnson told the Sun this week of the private cause of action provision in the continuing resolution. He says the House will vote on a bill to repeal that measure this week. “The House has a strong opinion about it,” the speaker, who has yet to win assurances that the Senate would pass his bill, said. A stock trading ban — which will also draw the ire of some wealthy conservative senators — could also come up for a committee vote this week, dividing the speaker’s conference at a time when the midterm races are already heating up. The good news for Mr. Johnson is that after this week, he will get a Thanksgiving reprieve, when his members will be sent home for another lengthy vacation. Once that peaceful week takes place, however, members of Congress will have to return to the Capitol to deal with government funding all over again.

Welcome to Washington: Mike Johnson’s No Good, Very Bad Week Ahead

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