Politico covers the sudden rise of the discharge petition:
Over the course of decades, House lawmakers had succeeded only a few times in triggering votes on bills the chamber’s leaders refused to call up.
Then Mike Johnson became speaker.
On the Louisiana Republican’s watch, the “discharge petition” has caught fire. Rank-and-file lawmakers have managed five times since he won his gavel two years ago to circumvent Johnson’s wishes by getting the 218 signatures needed to force votes on legislation he had blocked — more than in the prior 30 years combined.
In other words, the will of the Speaker of the House is broken.
Speaker Johnson’s response? According to Axios (paywall), he’s raising barriers.
Yeah, let’s just be open about this: due to his allegiance to the weakest President of all time, he’s a weak leader who’s damaging the GOP by bowing to the wishes of often tiny minorities, such as the hardliners who ejected former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, or the President, rather than paying attention to the tides of public opinion.
