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Table Of Content

• Johnson enters speaker’s office for first time since being sworn in
• How this Congress keeps setting records with its speaker votes
• Who is Mike Johnson? Five things to know about the new Republican House speaker
• Committee assignments
• Mike Johnson, a staunch Louisiana conservative, is elected House speaker as GOP moves past chaos

The next two Republican speakers would be John Boehner, elevated to the job by the GOP recapture of the House in the "Tea Party" election of 2010. Boehner worked hard to fashion budget deals with both a Democratic President Barack Obama and a Democratic Senate. But his efforts alienated some in his own ranks who in 2015 formed an insurgent group known as the House Freedom Caucus. Increasingly exasperated with his untenable predicament, Boehner simply resigned in October of that year. 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. The 30-year saga began with Gingrich of Georgia, who was the first member of his party to gain "the big gavel" since the early 1950s and the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Some Democrats signal support for embattled House Republican Speaker Johnson - Reuters

Some Democrats signal support for embattled House Republican Speaker Johnson.

Posted: Sun, 21 Apr 2024 16:22:00 GMT [source]

Johnson enters speaker’s office for first time since being sworn in

But Johnson's ability to avoid Trump's ire cleared a hurdle for him within the House GOP, which is attuned to the wishes of the "MAGA" base. Johnson authored legislation called the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act of 2022, which "prohibits the use of federal funds to develop, implement, facilitate, or fund any sexually-oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10," his office said. Critics have dubbed it a federal "don't say gay" measure and argued that it's aimed at barring references to LGBTQ people.

How this Congress keeps setting records with its speaker votes

The challenge for House Republicans is they still have eight more spending bills to pass including two that have been stuck in committee because of disagreements within GOP ranks. In his letter to colleagues, Johnson set out an aggressive time table for passing the bills, but the issue will be finding a way to pass the legislation in just a narrow GOP majority. GOP Rep. Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma is considering a run for conference vice chair – the leadership role previously occupied by now-Speaker Mike Johnson, according to her spokesperson. With some GOP lawmakers voting for his challenger, Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, a conservative member of the House Freedom Caucus, McCarthy faces a challenge uniting a fractured conference that is still reeling from disappointing midterm election results. After four days of grueling ballots, McCarthy flipped more than a dozen conservative holdouts to become supporters, including the chairman of the chamber’s Freedom Caucus. Republicans have now spurned all three of their top leaders over the past few weeks.

Who is Mike Johnson? Five things to know about the new Republican House speaker

Gingrich's hold on the leadership was weakened significantly by that and several other controversies, and he faced a caucus revolt in 1997. After the Republicans lost House seats in 1998 (although retaining a majority) he did not stand for a third term as speaker. His successor, Dennis Hastert, had been chosen as a compromise candidate since the other Republicans in the leadership were more controversial. Hastert played a much less prominent role than other contemporary speakers, being overshadowed by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and President George W. Bush. Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia, who ran for speaker as a protest candidate against Jordan in the House GOP conference, also voted to certify the 2020 election.

For instance, Nathaniel Macon served as speaker during both the 8th and 9th Congresses, but the eight-month gap between the two Congresses is not included in his service duration. The exact dates of service for each individual speaker is shown in the Term of service column of the above table. Taylor Greene’s move to oust Johnson was supported by the Kentucky representative Thomas Massie, who also backed an ultimately successful attempt to remove a previous Republican speaker, John Boehner, nearly a decade ago. Speaking from the Capitol on Thursday, Johnson made no apologies for antagonising them, telling C-SPAN that providing aid to Ukraine was “critically important” and “the right thing” despite the potential power of his opponents to bring him down in yet another internal party coup. However, by tradition, he largely stopped taking part in debate and made only a few votes from the floor.

About two-thirds of that money was for Ukraine, an issue Greene had called her "red line" for moving against the speaker. Twenty-five Republicans voted against the fourth bill, which included measures that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the United States and that would redirect funds from seized Russian assets to help aid Ukraine. Democrats put up a big vote — 174 — in favor of this bill, which was intended to sweeten the overall package for conservatives. The plan, laid out in a rule that passed on Friday, was concocted to capitalize on the pools of support for each part of the $95 billion package, while preventing opposition to any one piece from taking down all of them. The House passed a long-stalled foreign aid package on Saturday that gives funding to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, with a majority of lawmakers backing money for American allies across the globe.

He unified the fractious Republican Conference, winning votes from right-wing detractors of McCarthy, R-Calif., as well as centrist Republicans who opposed Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Most of them served in that long stretch when their party held the majority for four decades. The most recent Democrat, however, is Nancy Pelosi, still a House member and the House speaker emerita.

Committee assignments

Mr. Johnson said Mr. Jordan called him when he was running for office, because “he knew I was a conservative,” contributed money to his campaign and invited him to Washington for a meeting with him and other Freedom Caucus members. A social conservative, Mr. Johnson played a leading role in recruiting House Republicans to sign a legal brief supporting a lawsuit seeking to overturn the results. Johnson praises former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, unceremoniously deposed three weeks ago. Says “he is the reason we are in this majority today,” a nod to his political skills.

Mike Johnson, a staunch Louisiana conservative, is elected House speaker as GOP moves past chaos

Second, the speaker manages business on the floor and navigates legislative rules, structuring House debate in a way that will advantage their legislative priorities. Adherence to strict rules and procedures is necessary to overcome the difficulty of managing a large legislative body like the House of Representatives. Johnson, 51, of Louisiana, swept through on the first ballot with support from all Republicans anxious to put the past weeks of tumult behind and get on with the business of governing. Scalise had dropped out of the speaker’s race earlier this month after House Republicans failed to coalesce behind him. The members who ousted McCarthy also told reporters that they have no regrets now about ousting McCarthy.

"Therefore, the Honorable Mike Johnson of the state of Louisiana, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected speaker of the House of Representatives for the 118th Congress," McHenry, the interim speaker, announced after reading the final vote tally. One of the most influential speakers in history was Democrat Sam Rayburn.[48] Rayburn had the most cumulative time as speaker in history, holding office from 1940 to 1947, 1949 to 1953, and 1955 to 1961. He helped shape many bills, working quietly in the background with House committees.

Gingrich had been a backbench rabble-rouser since coming to the House in 1978 and built up a cadre of supporters until he won the party's No. 2 power position as minority whip in 1989. He soon eclipsed the party's leader, Robert Michel, who was nearing retirement. Greene had vowed to press her challenge after Johnson announced a strategy to pass $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan earlier this month.

After three weeks without a speaker, the House voted Wednesday to elect Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. "Kevin McCarthy couldn't get to 218 votes today. Couldn't get to 200. Couldn't get to 190. So to believe that Kevin's going to be speaker, you have to believe he's going to move votes in the next six weeks that he couldn't move in the last six years," Gaetz said. Contours of a deal with conservative holdouts who had been blocking McCarthy’s rise had emerged the night before, and took hold after four dismal days and 14 failed votes in an intraparty standoff unseen in modern times. On November 17, 2010, the House Republican Conference selected McCarthy to be the House majority whip in the 112th Congress. In this post, he was the third-ranking House Republican, behind Speaker John Boehner and majority leader Eric Cantor. The House has been in a state of uncertainty and chaos since Oct. 3, when rebels forced a vote to oust Mr. McCarthy as speaker.

Previous candidates for speaker like Rep. Paul Ryan and Rep. Nancy Pelosi also faced challenges in their internal party votes, but later prevailed on the floor. Several Republicans predicted that those who wanted to vent or protest the election results would ultimately come around and back McCarthy. Control of the House is unclear with several races still uncalled a week after the election. Heading into the official vote next year McCarthy can't afford to lose more than a couple votes. If his opponents mount a challenge on the floor the process could turn messy and be a sign of a tumultuous GOP majority torn between hard liners on the right who refuse to compromise and more mainstream members who believe voters sent them to Washington to show they can govern.

The United States is divided into 435 congressional districts, each with a population of about 710,000 individuals. Each district elects a representative to the House of Representatives for a two-year term. Americans in the United States’s six territories are represented in the House of Representatives by an additional six non-voting delegates. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., was a little-known lawmaker until earlier this month when he launched a surprise challenge to Jordan's speakership bid as a protest candidate against the conservative firebrand. In the second ballot, Jordan lost more ground than he gained, winning 199 votes, compared to the 200 he won on the first ballot. Jordan lost 25 Republicans in the third round of voting, falling short yet again with 194 votes, compared to 210 for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.