At a press conference on Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sought to downplay Democrat Tom Suozzi flipping the New York district once held by ousted Republican lawmaker George Santos.

Democrats, Johnson said, “spent about $15 million to win a seat President Biden won by 8 points, they won it by less than 8 points."

"Their candidate ran like a Republican, sounded like a Republican talking about the border and immigration ... the incumbent had been a three-term member of Congress and had a 100% name ID and a deep family history in the district, our candidate was relatively unknown ... she ran a remarkable campaign, there was a weather event that affected turnout, there are a lot of factors there, that is in no way a bellwether of what is gonna happen this fall.”

Despite Johnson's contentions, the results will no doubt be a cause of concern for his conference's already razor-thin majority: When Suozzi is sworn in, the makeup of the chamber will shrink to 219-213, meaning he can only lose two votes on major legislation.

What You Need To Know

  • When Democrat Tom Suozzi is sworn into Congress, the already thin House Republican majority will shrink from 219-213

  • That margin means Republicans in the majority can only afford to lose two votes on major legislation

  • The development comes as deadlines to fund the government and avert a shutdown are rapidly approaching

  • Democrats in the House are also pushing their Republican counterparts to consider the $95 billion foreign aid bill that the Senate passed this week to provide aid to Ukraine and Israel

There are also currently three vacancies in the House that have yet to be filled with special elections after the resignations of New York Democrat Brian Higgins, Ohio Republican Bill Johnson and California Republican Kevin McCarthy, the former Speaker of the House.

California Rep. Pete Aguilar, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, celebrated Suozzi’s win as “one less vote for MAGA extreme Republicans to advance their abortion ban, one less vote for their desire to slash Social Security and Medicare, or one less vote for them to help billionaires cheat on their taxes.”

It could have also been the one vote needed for Democrats to block the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday night. After a failed vote last week, the return of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., gave Republicans enough support to make the embattled Homeland Security chief the second Cabinet secretary to face impeachment in U.S. history.

Suozzi could also be sworn in before a pair of deadlines to fund the government after the House and Senate announced a deal on a full-year spending agreement, then voted to temporarily extend government funding at current levels until March.

Then there’s the matter of the $95 billion foreign aid bill that the Senate passed this week to provide funding to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, Israel as it wars with Hamas in Gaza, and Indo-Pacific allies including Taiwan to counter China’s growing influence in the region.

Speaker Johnson told his Republican colleagues on Wednesday that the House will not feel “rushed” to pass the bill and that the chamber will “work its will” in considering the measure. He later said at a press conference that the House "will not be jammed or forced into passing a foreign aid bill,” criticizing it as being “silent” on the issue of the U.S.-Mexico border — despite the fact that he had opposed a bipartisan border compromise from the Senate last week.

“Much more has to be done, of course, to secure the border,” he said. “And what the Senate produced this week is silent on that issue. [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell and I have spoken about this in frank sessions, and let me be clear here … the Republican-led House will not be jammed or forced into passing a foreign aid bill that was opposed by most Republican senators and does nothing to secure our own border.”

NBC News reported that Johnson is seeking a meeting with Biden on the foreign aid request. The White House on Wednesday poured cold water on that prospect.

"What is there to negotiate?” asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “Really, truly, what is the one-on-one negotiation about when he's been presented with exactly what he asked for? So he's negotiating with himself. He's killing bills on his own.”

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has pledged that his conference “will use every available legislative tool” to force a vote on the bill, noting that “all options are on the table” — including a discharge petition, a legislative motion that would circumvent the majority and force a vote if they garner the signature of 218 members of the House.

But even with Suozzi bolstering their ranks, Democrats would need at five Republicans to break with their conference to get the bill on the floor via that mechanism — even though they insist Ukraine aid has bipartisan support.

“The overwhelming majority of the House Democratic Caucus is ready to vote for this bill,” Aguilar said Wednesday. “Give us a vote on a national security package to provide aid to Ukraine and Israel and the Indo-Pacific region as well as robust humanitarian assistance. That is in that package. There is a bipartisan path forward that the Senate has just given us that all we're asking for is a vote, and by the way, over 300 members would vote for a package like that.”