House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) took the speakers gavel Oct. 25. Less than three months later, its unclear how much longer hell be able to keep it.

Some of the same House GOP intraparty dynamics that brought down Johnsons predecessor, former speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), are beginning to show up again after being sublimated in the drive to get out of Washington at the end of last year.

Fanning those flames are two choices Johnson will have to make soon: how hard to push a deal with the Senate on annual spending that has ignited right-wing resistance; and whether to accept a deal on border policy changes that may emerge from the Senate.

This is not what we all want. Its not the best deal that we could get if we were in charge of both chambers [of Congress] and the White House. But its the best deal we could broker under the circumstances, Johnson said Tuesday night of the proposed spending deal.

The bargain is on the overall amount of spending for government agencies and programs outside of Social Security and Medicare and would hew closely to the one haggled last year by McCarthy, at $1.59 trillion for the budget year ending Sept. 30. But Johnson said the new bargain would cut some related agreements that would have allowed more spending, and thus was a win.

But the original $1.59 trillion deal was the genesis for McCarthys troubles, and the changes won by Johnson did little to assuage right-wing House Republicans who say theyre worried about the national debt.

On Wednesday, a small group of hardliners opposed to the budget deal voted against a procedural measure setting rules for moving other legislation on the House floor. By tanking the rule, as its known, the group can effectively stop the House from functioning at all.

Johnson oversees a narrowly divided House with 220 Republicans and 213 Democrats, meaning he can lose a maximum of three GOP votes and still prevail on the floor. And that margin is going to get even closer with the announced-but-not-yet-effective resignation of Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) to become a college president.

That very narrow margin for error has not, however, insulated Johnson from criticism that he is not doing enough to get legislative victories since he took over.

Before lawmakers left Washington for the holiday break, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) gave a speech on the House floor complaining Republicans did not have a single policy win to show their voters. He raised the possibility of formally calling for Johnsons ouster this week, because of the spending deal.

Now, unfortunately, Speaker Johnson is doing all the same stupid crap that we opposed, he told Fox News Jan. 9.

Im not going to say what would trigger [a vote], what wouldnt trigger. What I would say is weve got to do better than this.