House GOP feud reignites as Johnson caught between warring wings

House Republicans hoped to turn over a new leaf in the new year. But they returned to the Capitol this week confronting the same exact problems that plagued the party last year: a razor-thin majority, a rebellious right flank and looming threats of a government shutdown.

On top of that, lingering resentment over the ousting of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has continued to fuel bad blood in the ranks and contributed to the party infighting that has once again spilled out into public view.

Those tensions boiled over on Wednesday when a group of conservatives froze the business of the House by tanking a procedural vote in protest of the bipartisan spending agreement that House Speaker Mike Johnson hashed out with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. It was once rare for lawmakers to sink a procedural vote of their own party, but the hardball tactic has become more routine since Republicans took over the majority last year.

And just hours earlier, a House GOP meeting on Capitol Hill turned into a circus when Hunter Biden made a surprise and dramatic appearance in front of the House Oversight Committee, which was in the process of marking up a resolution to hold him in contempt of Congress for defying a congressional subpoena. As the president’s son sat in the audience, the proceedings devolved into a shouting match, with GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina calling for the president’s son to be arrested and telling him, “You have no balls,” while GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia displayed censored nude photos appearing to show Hunter Biden with women.

Hunter Biden during a House Oversight hearing. House Republicans want to hold the president's son in criminal contempt of Congress for not complying