Johnson calls the House of Representatives into session again after refusing to meet during the lockdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — After the U.S. House of Representatives refused to convene during the government shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson has called lawmakers back into session — and is facing a torrent of pent-up legislative demands from those who have been largely sidelined from governance.

Hundreds of representatives are preparing to return to Washington on Wednesday after an absence of nearly eight weeks, carrying a torrent of ideas, proposals and frustrations regarding the work that stopped when the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives closed the doors of the House of Representatives nearly two months ago.

First, there will be a vote on reopening the government. But this is just the beginning. With efforts to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and Arizona Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva being sworn in, unfinished business will pose a new test of Johnson’s grip on power and put a renewed focus on his leadership.

“It’s extraordinary,” said Matthew Green, a professor in the Department of Politics at The Catholic University of America.

“What Speaker Johnson and the Republicans are doing, you have to go back decades to find an example where the House — in either chamber — decided not to meet.”

Surrender after an absence of two months

When the House returns to session, it will close this remarkable chapter of Johnson’s tenure when he showed himself as a leader willing to quietly, but brazenly, upend institutional norms in pursuit of his broader strategy, even at the risk of shrinking the House itself.

Instead of using the enormous powers of the Office of the Speaker of the House to forcefully guide debate in Congress, as a coequal branch of government on a par with the executive branch and the courts, Johnson simply closed the door – allowing the House to become unusually deferential, especially to President Donald Trump.

Over the past weeks, the chamber has avoided its core responsibilities, from passing routine legislation to conducting oversight. Silencing the speaker’s gavel was unusual and surprising in a system of government where the founders imagined that the branches would vigorously protect their institutional prerogatives.

“You can see it’s pretty empty out here,” Johnson, R-Los Angeles, said on the third day of the shutdown, with tour groups no longer crowding the halls.

“When Congress decides to turn off the lights, it transfers power to the executive branch. That’s how it works,” he said, blaming Democrats, in their struggle over health care funds, for the shutdowns.

The empty house as a political strategy

The Speaker of the House of Representatives defended his decision to close the House of Representatives during what is now the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States. He said the chamber, with a GOP majority, had already done its job by passing a temporary funding bill in September. He added that it is up to the Senate to act.

When the Senate repeatedly failed to advance the House bill, more than a dozen times, he refused to engage in talks with other leaders to reach a compromise. Johnson also encouraged Trump to cancel an initial meeting with Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to avoid broader negotiations while the government was still closed.

Instead, the House speaker, whose job is defined by the Constitution and is second in the line of presidential succession, held near-daily news conferences on his side of the Capitol, a weekly conference call with GOP lawmakers, and private conversations with Trump. He joined the president at the NFL Washington Commanders game on Sunday as the Senate struggled through the weekend session.

“People say, ‘Why don’t you negotiate with Schumer and Jeffries? I literally have nothing to negotiate with,'” Johnson said at one point.

“As I have said repeatedly, I have nothing to negotiate with,” he said on the 13th day of the lockdown. “We did our job. We got that vote.”

Besides, he said of GOP lawmakers: “They are doing some of their best work in the district, helping their constituents get through this crisis.”

Read more: The shutdown deal does not extend health benefits that expire. What happens to them now?

The occasional speaker delivers to Trump

In many ways, Johnson became a surprisingly effective leader, a spokesman who was serendipitously elected to the position by his colleagues after all others had failed to win it. So far it has lasted more than two years, which is longer than many had previously imagined.

This year, with Trump back in the White House, the House speaker took over his slim GOP majority and passed legislation including the president’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” of tax breaks and spending cuts that became law this summer.

Johnson’s shutdown strategy also largely achieved his goal, forcing Senate Democrats to defect and approve money to reopen the government without extending the health care subsidies they had been demanding to help cushion the shock caused by rising insurance premium costs through the Affordable Care Act.

Johnson’s approach is seen as one of management — he stays close to Trump and says they talk too much — and also maintains tight control over the daily schedule of the House and its lawmakers.

Gathering quiet strength

Under a House rules change this year, Johnson was able to keep the chamber closed indefinitely on his own, without the usual required vote. This year, his leadership team allowed fewer opportunities to make changes to legislation, according to a recent tally. Other changes limited the House’s ability to provide strong oversight of the executive branch regarding Trump’s tariffs and use of war powers.

Johnson’s refusal to swear in Grijalva is a notable display of the speaker’s power, drawing comparisons to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision not to consider President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, said David Rapallo, an associate professor and director of the Federal Legislation Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center. Arizona sued for her seat.

“It’s impressive the way he held the conference together,” Mark Short, who headed the White House Office of Legislative Affairs during Trump’s first administration, said of Johnson.

But “the Legislature has ceded too much responsibility to the executive branch under his watch,” Short said.

Difficult decisions await the Speaker of Parliament

As lawmakers return to Washington, the speaker’s authority will be tested again as they consider the government’s reopening package.

Republicans are sure to have complaints about the bill, which funds much of the federal government through Jan. 30 and keeps some programs including agriculture, military construction and veterans affairs going until September.

But with House Democratic leaders rejecting the package for failing to address health care subsidies, it will be up to Johnson to pass it with mostly GOP lawmakers — with no room for defections in the narrowly divided chamber.

“They won’t be able to hide this week when they come back,” said Jeffries, who criticized House Republicans for what he called an extended vacation.