Saturday, April 27, 2024

Mike Johnson elected House speaker with unanimous GOP support, ending weeks of chaos

new house speaker

Emmer can only afford four defections in a vote on the House floor to still win the speakership. Asked Tuesday evening by reporters whether Trump's opposition had been a deciding factor in his withdrawal from the speaker race, Emmer replied, "I made my decision based on my relationship with the conference." Johnson said his first priority would be to pass a resolution denouncing Hamas for the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel that left more than 1,400 people dead. Israel is said to be preparing for a ground offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and lawmakers have been anxious to show support for the key U.S. ally as the speaker's fight dragged on. "We're in overtime right now, right? So you don't blame the backup quarterback for the failures of the guy that just came out of the game," Perry told reporters.

Gauging Kennedy’s support

Last month, Johnson was among 93 Republicans who voted for an amendment by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to cut off U.S. military assistance for Ukraine. Johnson's voting record has earned him a lifetime rating of 92% from the American Conservative Union and 90% from Heritage Action. Mr. Emmer had attempted to mollify Mr. Trump by calling him over the weekend and praising him, according to the former president. Some hard-right Republicans consider themselves a distinct political party from their more mainstream, business-minded colleagues, whom they accuse of being in a “uniparty” with Democrats. A majority of those opposed to Mr. Emmer were members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and loyal to Mr. Trump.

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The Democratic leader also vowed that his party will continue to support Ukraine to defeat Russia's aggression. Johnson also acknowledged that the chaos of the last three weeks has chipped away at Americans' confidence in the lower chamber. Johnson has laid out a tentative legislative schedule to approve new spending and take up other pieces of legislation, but things could change quickly as he confronts the realities of governing, especially given the fractious nature of the Republican conference. Speaking after the vote, Johnson vowed to hit the ground running and get the House back to work. There’s a strong desire among Republicans to show a functioning House after being paralyzed for weeks following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The House is expected to vote on a resolution in support of Israel on Wednesday afternoon, according to a notice from the House Democratic whip.

After opposing Emmer bid for speaker, Trump says his "strong suggestion" is to support Johnson

Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas told reporters some of Emmer's past comments are "causing him some problems today," though he didn't specify what the statements were. Still, the Texas Republican cast doubt on Emmer's ability to garner 217 votes and again pledged to nominate Trump for speaker on the floor. House Republicans have begun voting on the first ballot for their speaker nominee after convening to elect a fourth candidate just hours after Emmer, who won the conference's nomination earlier Tuesday, withdrew his candidacy amid growing opposition. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, another Scalise supporter, told reporters after Johnson was elected speaker-designate that he believes Republicans are "back" and the conference's agenda "back on track." Johnson was the party's fourth nominee for speaker in three weeks, having taken the place of Rep. Tom Emmer, whose candidacy lasted all of four hours on Tuesday.

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"We need to move swiftly to address our national security needs and to avoid a shutdown in 22 days. Even though we have real disagreements about important issues, there should be mutual effort to find common ground wherever we can," the president said. "This is a time for all of us to act responsibly, and to put the good of the American people and the everyday priorities of American families above any partisanship." Johnson, a little-known lawmaker who is now second in line for the presidency, attracted the support of all 220 Republican members in attendance, surpassing the 215-vote total that was required to win. All 209 Democrats voted for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the party's House leader. “The door to the speaker’s office now is open to the members and to the constituents, not just the lobbyists,” Rep. Matt Rosendale told reporters. After three weeks without a speaker, the House voted Wednesday to elect Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

Mike Johnson selected as next speaker nominee

GOP Speaker Johnson demands Columbia president resign, hints at using National Guard - NBC New York

GOP Speaker Johnson demands Columbia president resign, hints at using National Guard.

Posted: Wed, 24 Apr 2024 14:26:31 GMT [source]

“You don’t want people who falsely claim the last election was stolen to be in a position of deciding who won the next one,” said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. On Wednesday, he flagged another worry about Johnson, who is a constitutional lawyer. Johnson’s opposition to abortion — he favors a national ban — and to same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ rights and protections is well documented in his pre-Congress work as an attorney for the socially conservative Alliance Defending Freedom. After the Dobbs decision overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, Johnson suggested that now women would produce more “able-bodied workers,” whose payroll tax contributions would help save Medicare and Social Security. Scalise, who voted to save McCarthy, has not said whether he wants the job. The House will now take a long break, with no votes expected before next Tuesday.

new house speaker

GOP members who had been opposed to Johnson's bid voted "present" and the Louisiana Republican prevailed. The list of the 10 speakers who served in the job longest includes just one Republican (and in the ninth slot at that). That speaker was Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, notorious as the autocratic "Czar Cannon" during three two-year tours as speaker that ended with his party's historic defeat in 1910. His predecessor, Frederick Gillett of Massachusetts, also had the top job for less than five years. But when he left after the 1924 session, his party was still firmly in control and had just elected President Calvin Coolidge to a full term. In 1994, two years into the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton, Gingrich organized a campaign around a 10-item agenda called the "Contract with America." It provided a unified message for the party's nominees, who flipped more than 50 seats and stormed into the majority.

Utah GOP picks Trump-backed mayor as nominee to replace …

While it was long before the dawn of Twitter, super PACs and C-SPAN, things really haven’t changed all that much in Congress. The Republican divisions obstructing Mr. McCarthy’s decade-long ambition of becoming speaker of the House have been playing out on both the national stage in Washington and a far smaller though equally telling one in his hometown and home district. It is easier to find detractors on his far-right flank than die-hard supporters, in what should be friendly home turf for California’s top Republican — one of the reddest cities in one of the bluest states in the country. Reading clerks, who are often described as the “voice of the House,” are responsible for reading bills, resolutions, motions and more on the House floor, and for reporting the chamber’s legislative actions to the Senate. Mr. Gaetz, Mr. McCarthy’s chief antagonist, has accused the G.O.P. leader of selling his soul to lobbyists and of pursuing the speakership because of his own vanity. Still, a large contingent of the crowd hung on, with a mixed but visible reaction to Representative Lauren Boebert, who had been a hard holdout, voting “present.” Some booed, and one yelled “sellout!

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He accused GOP lawmakers of working to find a candidate for speaker who can pass their "extreme litmus test" opposing marriage equality, cutting Social Security and Medicare, and enacting nationwide restrictions on abortion. Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, chairman of the Democratic caucus, rose to nominate Jeffries for speaker and accused Republicans of manufacturing a crisis that has lasted 22 days. Shortly after 1 p.m., the House began voting for speaker, with Johnson as the Republican nominee and Jeffries as the Democratic nominee. In a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House, President Biden welcomed news of Johnson's election.

The new speaker has been in Congress since 2017 and has no experience in the House leadership. Mike Johnson, the Louisiana congressman who was elected speaker of the House of Representatives on Wednesday after a three-week standoff among Republicans, took the lead in filing a brief in a lawsuit that sought to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election win. That claim, widely panned by legal scholars of all ideologies, was quickly thrown out by the U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., told reporters today that she will support Scalise for speaker when the formal vote takes place on the House floor. Also part of the proposal, Republicans familiar with it said, was a commitment by the leader to give the ultraconservative faction approval over a third of the seats on the powerful Rules Committee, which controls what legislation reaches the floor and how it is debated.

But Johnson's record on Ukraine funding has been criticized by Ukraine advocates. Johnson received an "F" grade from Republicans for Ukraine on its GOP Congressional Report Card. Johnson did vote for the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022. "Today is the day that House Republicans will humbly look in our hearts and elect Mike Johnson as speaker of the People's House," she said. Turning to Jeffries, Aguilar said the Democratic leader has "never turned his back on the will of the American people." He was the first candidate since McCarthy's ouster to face no opposition from his own party.

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