Mike Johnson managed to wrangle enough hardline Republican votes to pass his stopgap legislation without blue team help. It is a feat that escaped him and Kevin McCarthy for two years. Why was this time different? Has Johnson learned political skills that he didn’t have before?
No. The difference is that Johnson can tell the hardliners with a straight face that Trump will impound any spending they don’t like, so the bottom-line figure in the legislation is meaningless. He couldn’t do that as long as Biden was in the White House.
Note that this trick won’t work when the negotiations over tax cuts begin. It probably won’t work with Medicaid, either.