2024 finds House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) facing a variety of challenges, from a shrinking majority and a series of special elections to the possibility of a partial federal government shutdown. Johnson is also at risk of being ousted as speaker — the fate that former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) suffered in 2023 — if enough members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus dislike his spending plans. In a report published on January 16, the New York Times’ Carl Hulse describes some of the difficulties Johnson is up against as his majority continues to shrink. “Day by day, thanks t…