Johnson, Stefanik trade blows over surveillance provision in defense bill

WASHINGTON (CN) — A rift among House Republican leaders deepened Tuesday as House Speaker Mike Johnson came to blows with a top GOP lawmaker who claims Johnson had been “rolled” by Democrats angling to block a proposed surveillance provision in the annual defense policy bill.

Johnson’s burgeoning conflict with New York Representative Elise Stefanik comes as other House lawmakers have already slammed his leadership and the diminishing role of Congress under the Republican majority.

Stefanik, a member of the House Republican leadership team, was furious with her colleagues Monday for allowing Democratic attempts to strike her provision from the National Defense Authorization Act that would require the FBI to inform Congress if it opens investigations into federal political candidates.

“It is a scandalous disgrace that Republicans are allowing themselves to be rolled by the Dems and deep state on this,” she fumed in a post on X.

But speaking to reporters Tuesday morning, Johnson said Stefanik’s claims were “false,” and that he hadn’t been aware of negotiations related to her provision because he had been campaigning for the special election this week in Tennessee.

“I don’t exactly know why Elise won’t just call me,” Johnson said, adding that he had sent her a text message on Monday after he learned about the issue. “This hasn’t even made it to my level.”

Johnson contended that the House was following regular order as lawmakers negotiate the annual defense policy bill, in which provisions typically require majority support from the chairs of House and Senate committees of jurisdiction to advance. Though he said Stefanik’s proposal wasn’t on his “radar” until Monday night, the speaker pointed out that the chairs and ranking members in two committees did not support the measure.

“It doesn’t mean that it can’t become law, or even that it’s a final decision,” Johnson added, saying that he agreed with Stefanik’s provision and that he supported it. “I’m not exactly sure why it wasn’t included, so I don’t know why she’s frustrated with me. I’ve literally had nothing to do with it.”

Stefanik, however, fired back at Johnson in a post on X Tuesday morning.

“Just more lies from the Speaker,” she said. “It wasn’t on your radar? This is the ONLY provision in the bill to root out the deep state rot.”

The New York Republican confirmed that Johnson had texted her about the provision but dismissed it as “his preferred tactic to tell Members when he gets caught torpedoing the Republican agenda.”

Stefanik has argued that her language was “essential” to prevent what she framed as weaponization of the justice system against candidates and lawmakers, pointing to information published by Republicans related to the FBI’s probe into the 2020 election which investigated some GOP members of Congress. And on Monday she complained that her proposal had in fact progressed through regular order but had been struck down by Democrats in a “closed door meeting.”

“You torpedoed this siding with Jamie Raskin,” Stefanik told Johnson, referring to the top House Democrat. “You said you would fix it, so fix it.”

The House has for weeks negotiated the NDAA, an annual policy bill which sets spending priorities for the military and defense sectors. Lawmakers are expected to release compromise legislation as soon as this week.

Johnson’s row with Stefanik is just the latest example of growing dissatisfaction with the speaker’s leadership among his conference. Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who announced last month that she would resign from Congress in January, seized the opportunity to torch Johnson, who she said refused to “proactively work diligently” to protect Americans’ access to health care.

Greene also skewered her fellow Republicans in Congress, who she said had been “mostly sidelined” by President Donald Trump and the White House, which has largely favored executive action over congressional cooperation.

“[W]e endured an 8-week shut down wrongly resulting in the House not working for the entire time, and we are entering campaign season which means all courage leaves and only safe campaign reelection mode is turned on,” she lamented.

Johnson, meanwhile, dismissed reports about his fractured conference on Monday, pointing instead to what he said were the “marquee” achievements of the Republican majority in Congress.

“Despite the unrelenting stream of palace intrigue stories that fill the pages of your publications, House Republicans remain united and focused on delivering results for our constituents,” he said.

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