La., will start next year without the threat of being easily ousted, dodging a rule that a handful of Republican rebels used to boot his predecessor. Two factions of the House Republican conference that have often been at odds with one another – the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and the more moderate Main Street Caucus – have agreed to a rule change that could protect Johnson from an insurgent push to topple him.

The agreement would increase the threshold that allowed a single member to trigger a no-confidence vote to remove the speaker.