Mike Johnson reeling after aides' resignations strip him of 'brain trust'
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) enjoyed a major victory when lawmakers — including a long list of Democrats — decisively voted down Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-GA) proposal to oust him from his position. It remains to be seen whether Republicans will keep or lose their small House majority in the November elections, but for now, Johnson's speakership appears to be safe. However, Johnson is still facing his share of challenges.
According to Punchbowl News reporters Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan, three "leading members" of the speaker's policy team will be leaving "by the end of May" — thus "robbing the House's top Republican of a critical core of experienced aides. Johnson aides Brittan Specht, Jason Yaworske and Preston Hill worked for former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) when he was speaker and will be joining the well-known lobbying firm Michael Best Strategies.
"The departure, which is striking in size and in experience, strips Johnson of a significant amount of expertise in his domestic policy shop," Sherman and Bresnahan explain. "Specht was McCarthy's policy director and was key in crafting the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which raised the debt limit and set budget levels for two years."
The Punchbowl reporters add, "Yaworske is a well-respected adviser to the speaker on the appropriations and budget matters. As the House Appropriations Committee begins marking up the FY2025 spending bills, Yaworske's expertise on government spending is in demand. And Hill, a longtime figure in GOP leadership, was in charge of overseeing House Republican policy in burgeoning policy areas such as cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence as well as Education and the Workforce and Financial Services."
https://www.rawstory.com/striking-departure-of-3-top-policy-aides-strips-speaker-johnson-of-significant-expert/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Just my 2 cents. 
