News - December 14, 2025 - by Ray Hagar

Republican Speaker Mike Johnson's grip on the U.S. House appears to be slipping.

The U.S. House and GOP caucus leader from Louisiana is facing some defiant Republican dissent for his handling of the Epstein files controversy,  the recent government shutdown, inaction on the healthcare crisis and other issues.

Members of his own party are using a procedural tactic -- the discharge petition -- to force votes on issues and to maneuver around Johnson's agenda. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, a Republican from Georgia, reportedly wants to oust Johnson before her planned resignation from Congress next month.

Johnson, however, still has his supporters and one of the most ardent is Nevada's 2nd U.S. House District Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City.

"I don't think he's in any trouble," Amodei said of Johnson this week on Nevada Newsmakers. "I don't think he's in any trouble at all.

"You're asking me (if he'll be removed) and my answer is 'nope,' " he told host Sam Shad.

The ankle-biting that Johnson is facing is just part of his leadership job, said Amodei, Northern Nevada's CD-2 representative for the past 14 years.

"First of all, the Speaker is a leader," Amodei said. "That means when push comes to shove, hey, you're going to have to make a call. Somebody is going to like it. And someone is not going to like it."

Amodei praised Johnson for his calm demeanor in the face of fire.

"He can sit there with you, pointing your finger in his face. You can call him a dirty, rotten Louisiana punk, you know, whatever," Amodei said. "And the way he deals with that is ... I don't want to say clinically because 'clinically' has something negative to it. But he (tells them), 'Well, here's what we're doing. Here's the deal."

Amodei recalled an instance where he thought Johnson handled MTG's criticism well.

"Marjorie Taylor Greene gets mad at him on a call when we were shut down. (She says), "Blah, blah, blah, this, that." And he (calmly) goes, well, here's what we've done on health care. Here's what else we've done on health care," Amodei recalled.

"So you sit there and you listen to and you go, well, OK. So I don't think he is a natural-born Teflon Bill Clinton, like, no matter what you say, I can say something (better) ... He's very good at being substantive."

Johnson has only led the U.S. House for two years. In 2023, a group of hard-line Republicans, led by Florida's Matt Gaetz, ousted previous Speaker Kevin McCarthy for making a deal with Democrats for a short-term spending plan to avoid a government shutdown.

McCarthy was the Speaker for only 269 days, showing how precarious the position of Speaker has become with a Republican majority in the U.S. House. By comparison, Democrat Nancy Pelosi served eight years as Speaker, in two different four-year terms.

Amodei wants to keep Johnson in the Speaker's role, in part, to avoid another messy coup that disrupts work for constituents.

"He (Johnson) is a very intelligent guy. And the last thing I'll say is this: OK, throw him away. Now who wants the job? Because you can certainly say to people, 'You've got to be nuts. You want that job?'

"I like this guy," Amodei said of Johnson. "He is very good at what he's doing."

Amodei also backed up Johnson's statement he made recently on the "Katie Miller Podcast" show when Johnson suggested the job of House Speaker was overwhelming, saying:

“I haven’t had a vacation day in two years. I haven’t been off in two years, literally. Last Christmas, I was taking calls from members with their drama. It takes everything out of whomever serves in the position — and by extension, their family.”

Amodei said Johnson was not exaggerating.

"That's the job. That's the job (of Speaker) in this day and age," Amodei said. "That's the job, in my view, from where I've sat for 14 years. "

MORE ON MARJORIE
The conversation turned to Marjorie Taylor Green. Some have speculated she might run for president in 2028 and that may be a reason she is leaving Congress. She's noted for being an excellent fund-raiser.

"I don't know what Marjorie is doing, she hasn't shared with me, which is not a bad thing," Amodei said.

MTG has appeared on 'The View,' CNN news and other venues where conservatives rarely go. MTG has also split with President Trump over the release of the Epstein Files. The rift has grown so large that Trump referred to her as "Marjorie Traitor Green."

Amodei noted that many politicians change stances over the years. He also suggested MTG may be seeking attention.

"Hey, (Vice President) JD Vance was a never-Trumper," Amodei said. "People change in this thing and you say, 'What's the reason she's going on this (show) or that (show)?'

"But there are people in this business -- and I'm going to shock you -- that say, 'I really think I like attention.' Marjorie likes attention."

Amodei gave an example of MTG's attention-getting antics:

"She was running around fundraising a couple of years ago with what's-his-name from Florida. You know, the famous guy, the guy who hated (Kevin) McCarthy. He was nominated for attorney general."

Then Amodei remembered his name.

"Matt Gaetz! Yes," Amodei said. "They were doing a road show together, raising money across the country. They might even have stopped in Nevada."

Any campaign MTG may-or-may-not be organizing must be built on more than criticism of the opponent, Amodei noted.

"OK, so I always looked at it like, OK what are you going to build? If you're going to run a campaign on tearing everything down ... it's like the old personnel session -- you should hire me because everybody else sucks.

"OK, but after that, what are you going to do to build the organization? What are you going to do for the mission?" Amodei added.

VENEZUELA AND HEGSETH
Amodei was asked about the pending crisis with Venezuela, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's job performance and the US military's use of armed drones to destroy drug-running speed boats off the shores of South America.

Amodei doubts we'll see a Grenada-like military invasion of Venezuela, located on the Caribbean/Atlantic Ocean side of South America.

In 1983, President Reagan ordered the U.S. to invade the small Caribbean island-nation to protect U.S. medical students after a violent Marxist coup overthrew the government.

U.S. commandos, however, recently seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. President Trump, who is at odds with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, has not ruled out further action against the socialist nation.

"I mean, you can impose your will on a country like that without landing on the beach and storming up there," said Amodei, a U.S. Army JAG officer from 1983 to 1987.

Amodei said he hasn't paid much attention to the ongoing news involving Hegseth:

"I don't know what's going to happen with Secretary Hegseth," Amodei said. "I haven't looked at any of this stuff and I haven't gotten any of the classified briefings because we're kind of working on Nevada stuff.

"There are plenty of people who like attention working on those issues," he said about House members. "And they are having a ball. Good for them."

Amodei was asked about the U.S. high-command order to fire a second lethal strike at the suspected drug runners who were clinging to capsized remnants of a boat that was hit and exploded during a first strike.

Amodei said: "If there's a couple people hanging on a boat and you know that, and you send another round in to basically finish them off ... there's going to be some trouble over that."

AMODEI VS KIDD AGAIN, 2028?
Amodei noted that after he defeated challenger Greg Kidd (No Political Party) in the 2024 race for Nevada's 2nd U.S. House District seat, Kidd put on a hat that read "Kidd, 2026."

So Amodei figures Kidd will probably run against him again next year.

"We always just assume in America, if you've got 300 bucks (for candidate registration), which I think he has, and you want to run again as an independent or Republican or Democrat, whatever, come on in," Amodei said. "The water's fine."

Kidd, a highly successful entrepreneur and former analyst at the Federal Reserve, poured $11 million into his congressional race,  harvesting about 36 percent of the vote.

He ran as an independent but preferred to say he was in "No Political Party."

In a pre-election debate in 2024, Amodei said Kidd's independent nature was a sham. He was more like a Democrat.

Earlier this month, the Washoe County Democratic Party named Kidd as the Gold Sponsor of its 2025 Demmler Honor Roll Dinner after donating $3,500 to the Washoe Democrats.
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