Speaker Johnson and McConnell: Colliding at Breakneck Speed?

Speaker Johnson and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Locking Horns Leaders in Congress have had a history of running into roadblocks when it comes to passing legislation, and the latest battle is between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in Congress, are on a collision course that could derail progress on budgetary issues, health care reform, and other important pieces of legislation. The conflict between Speaker Johnson and the Majority Leader McConnell can be traced back to the days immediately following the 2018 midterm elections, with Pelosi hardening her stance on fiscal policy and McConnell shaking up the voting threshold to pass items through a Republican-led Senate. The scuffle escalated in early 2019 when Pelosi and McConnell clashed over border security funding, and the following year brought another heated disagreement between the two with Pelosi pushing for a payroll tax cut and McConnell staking his resistance. In mid-2020, when they tangled over a $2 trillion economic stimulus package that would have focused on a range of issues like unemployment benefits, the pandemic response, and small business assistance, the collision course between Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader McConnell reached a fever pitch. Aside from policy differences, there is a personal dynamic between the two that has been a persistent factor in their disagreements. Pelosi and McConnell have been known to take jabs at one another, with McConnell’s recent swift rebuke of Speaker Pelosi’s offer of a two month extension on a relief package serving as a prime example, along with a series of tweets from McConnell’s press team highlighting Pelosi’s perceived reckless spending plans. The relationship between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is on a noticeably icy track. With policy tensions mounting between the two and the 2020 election coming up quickly, any agreement between Pelosi and McConnell might have to wait until after the election. Until then, the two congressional leaders appear to on a collision course that shows no sign of slowing down.