Mike Johnson scores a crucial victory by cracking the bloc of rebel lawmakers after bringing Anna Paulina Luna and Tim Burchett back into the fold

Mike Johnson has once again achieved the "impossible." The Speaker is demonstrating a special ability to unite the various factions of the Republican Party—a task that has historically caused conservatives so many headaches. Last Tuesday, the Louisiana congressman managed to break—or at least crack—the hard-line wing's blockade of the party's agenda in the House by securing passage of a rule that mandates floor debate and final votes on various measures.

To do so, Johnson secured the support of Representatives Anna Paulina Luna and Tim Burchett. The final vote tally, 215 to 211—with the sole Republican vote against coming from Randy Fine—is a relief for the speaker in the face of pressure from the hardline faction demanding more forceful measures to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act and legislation aimed at codifying President Trump's border policies.

The ball is now in Thune's court in the Senate

The key to winning over both sides was to push a plan to merge the SAVE Act with a budget bill for fiscal year 2027 to fund the State Department and Homeland Security programs—a legislative maneuver known on Capitol Hill as MIRVing—.

"If SAVE America is stripped out in the Senate, the blame will fall solely on John Thune," Luna wrote on social media platform X, referring to the Senate Majority Leader, whom hard-line Republicans accuse of not acting forcefully enough on key points of the conservative and presidential agenda.

Trump, "very engaged" in the negotiations

Donald Trump himself was "very engaged" in the negotiations with the hawks of the GOP to bring the deal to a successful conclusion, as noted by Tim Burchett, who expressed satisfaction with the final outcome: "And that’s what we need. We need to just keep pounding the Senate and forcing them to take the right stand."

In any case, reaching the agreement was not easy, as evidenced by the fact that Johnson himself and other members of the party leadership, along with Congressman Mario Díaz Balart—chairman of the Budget Appropriations Subcommittee that will handle the State Department funding bill—engaged in a heated discussion on the floor of the House of Representatives just before the vote with the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, Andy Harris, Andrew Clyde, Scott Perry, and Keith Self. Speaker Johnson also held a meeting with Roy.

"Significant progress"

Roy himself—one of the most visible and influential figures among the rebels, who had been demanding urgent and decisive action on immigration and the border—expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the agreement after the vote: "We have made significant progress toward moving forward with border security provisions, ending birthright citizenship, and other issues of vital importance. And we know that action will be taken next week on what has been approved."

After achieving his goal through the MIRV, and when asked if he plans to continue using this tool, the speaker was clear: "Watch out for the large number of MIRV missiles."