On Tuesday, the House of Representatives adjourned for August recess, leaving some lawmakers and pundits on both sides of the aisle grumbling about the looming government funding deadline on September 30. But as Speaker Mike Johnson and the House GOP caucus leave town, it’s following a historic month of successes which shouldn’t be forgotten.
When Johnson became Speaker of the House in October 2023, many questioned his ability to navigate a narrow Republican majority and corral an ever-volatile GOP caucus. Over the course of the past few weeks, however, Johnson has put those questions to rest for now by guiding passage of President Donald Trump’s biggest legislative win to date, breaking fundraising records, and advancing a slate of conservative victories.
By far Johnson’s biggest victory was ushering through the “One Big Beautiful Bill” just before the Fourth of July. That gargantuan legislative package contains many of Trump’s most important domestic priorities. It makes Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, eliminates federal taxes on tips and overtime pay, adds a new tax deduction for seniors, and implements what Johnson calls the “largest investment in border security in a generation.” It also rolls back Biden-era handouts to the renewable energy industry, boosts defense spending, and imposes new limits on bureaucratic growth and federal waste.
As Johnson put it, the bill represents “the most consequential transformational legislation ever considered in our lifetimes.” At a July 15 press conference, he shared constituent responses describing how families plan to use their tax savings, including home repairs, retirement, rent, and emergency funds. One voter even offered to return his refund to help pay for more deportation flights.
There’s no denying that Johnson was absolutely instrumental in passage of the bill. With a majority of just a handful of seats, several groups of fractious Republican members threatened to derail the package. Most in the media doubted Johnson could meet Trump’s July 4 deadline. But through a slow and steady approach, he pulled the caucus together and delivered a historic birthday present to the country.
On July 16, President Trump also signed the HALT Fentanyl Act into law, delivering another major win for House Republicans and Speaker Johnson. The bill permanently classifies fentanyl analogues as Schedule I substances under the Controlled Substances Act, closing a legal loophole long exploited by drug traffickers.
Trump signed the bill in a White House ceremony alongside grieving parents and law enforcement officials, framing it as part of a broader crackdown on border-fueled drug trafficking. According to the DEA, more than 44 million fentanyl pills and 4,500 pounds of fentanyl powder have already been seized this year.
In a late-night vote on July 18, House Republicans also narrowly passed the first rescissions package in decades, codifying roughly $9 billion in cuts aimed at clawing back unspent COVID-19 relief funds, trimming foreign aid, and slashing discretionary spending tied to liberal priorities. The bill marks the first serious attempted rollback of spending since President Trump returned to office – and the administration has promised this will be the first of many such packages.
For Johnson, the House vote was a key win, and another demonstration that he can hold the House Republican caucus together to advance Trump’s broader agenda.
That same day, the House also passed the fiscal year 2026 Defense Appropriations Act in a 221–209 vote, delivering $831.5 billion in funding for national defense. The bill keeps spending level with 2025 but realigns priorities toward readiness, deterrence, and the Trump administration’s “peace through strength” doctrine.
The bill specifically includes a 3.8 percent pay raise for all military personnel, $13 billion for missile defense and space-based surveillance systems, and $2.6 billion for hypersonic weapons development.
House Republicans also used the bill to codify several of Trump’s executive orders by banning funding for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, abortion-related travel, drag queen shows, sex-change surgeries in the military, COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates, and U.S. contributions to United Nations bodies viewed as hostile to American interests.
Late last week, Trump also signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act into law, the country’s first major federal cryptocurrency bill. The legislation is aimed at ensuring consumers and investors are protected from bad actors who attempt to manipulate the crypto market – and another promise kept from Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Amid his legislative victories, Speaker Johnson has also filled the GOP’s war chest with a record-breaking fundraising haul.
In the second quarter of 2025, Johnson raised more than $18.6 million for House Republicans. That brought his cycle-to-date total to more than $50 million, making him the highest-earning Republican Speaker ever at this stage of an election cycle. In addition, Johnson has already transferred $14 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and $10.5 million directly to individual GOP candidates – another all-time record.
Republicans are crediting the surge to Johnson’s alignment with President Trump’s agenda and his ability to appeal to both the party’s high-dollar donors and grassroots conservatives. The fundraising strength arrives just in time as Democrats are aggressively targeting House battlegrounds districts, and House Republicans will need every dollar to defend their razor-thin majority in 2026.
When combined with the more than $60 million raised by House-aligned outside groups, the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) and American Action Network (AAN), Johnson is at the helm of what may become the most well-funded Republican House effort in history.
As good as July has been for Johnson, more challenges are on the horizon – primarily government funding, which runs out on September 30. The media is already spinning up talk of a shutdown, and both chambers of Congress will have their work cut out of them when they return to Washington.
Whether Johnson can pull of another impressive feat on government funding remains to be seen – and history has shown how fast a Republican Speaker can fall from grace. But after July, Johnson is no longer an unknown quantity. He’s a speaker who has built a reputation for delivering in the most critical moments.
Sarah Katherine Sisk is a proud Hillsdale College alumna and a master’s student in economics at George Mason University. You can follow her on X @SKSisk76.
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