Roy and other hardliners argue that Johnson should try to exert more leverage in spending talks and that simply accepting a continuing resolution through the rest of the fiscal year would cut spending by about $100 billion compared with the latest deal. Roy again refused to rule out a motion to oust Johnson as speaker. “What I’ve said is that everything is always on the table,” Roy said on CNN, adding that Johnson is a friend.

For his part, Johnson has sought to sell his spending deal as a win for Republicans because it modified last year’s framework to provide an additional $16 billion in 2024 spending cuts, including the accelerated rescission of $10 billion in IRS funding. He has reportedly also made clear to his conference that he doesn’t favor a shutdown, which could hurt Republicans in an election year, though he has not yet laid out his strategy for the short-term funding extension that will likely be needed to avoid a shutdown while appropriators work on spending bills.

While hardliners ramp up the pressure on Johnson and flirt with the idea of calling for his removal, the speaker insists he and his members must face the political realities of governing with an extremely slim House majority in a divided government, where any spending deal would have to be approved by a Democratic-led Senate and White House. “We have to be the adults in the room and govern,” he reportedly told Fox News in a Wednesday afternoon interview, adding that he doesn’t think his job is in jeopardy.

The speaker still has support among the wider GOP conference, and any push to boot him would plunge Republicans into another messy and very public display of disarray. “We’re in a divided government. Anyone who thinks we are going to get more out of this deal is lying and they’re kidding themselves,” Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York told reporters. “The speaker did the best he could under the circumstances and frankly our hand was weakened by the eight nitwits who removed Speaker McCarthy.”

The outlook: A potential push to oust Johnson wouldn’t accomplish much, though that consideration hasn’t stopped hardliners in some cases before. The speaker now faces even more pressure as funding for some agencies is due to expire in just nine days and there’s no chance that the appropriations bills will be done in time. Will Johnson embrace the idea of a short-term funding bill or accept a partial government shutdown that might appease those looking for a fight? Some on the right are also now pushing for policy riders that Democrats will reject as poison pills, further clouding the prospects of avoiding at least a partial government shutdown.

Johnson may be more likely to keep border security demands tied to the supplemental spending deal to provide more aid for Ukraine. He reportedly told radio host Hugh Hewitt: “We cannot be involved in securing the border of Ukraine or other nations until we secure our own. And so that border fight is coming, and we’re going to die on that hill.”

Like what you're reading? Sign up for our free newsletter.