Congress banned the practice more than a decade ago, after a series of scandals tied to earmarks and anti-spending fervor swept through the institution with the rise of the Tea Party, but it has since reintroduced it with more guardrails. “I think it’s great that Matt Gaetz has a group up there that’s bringing attention to what’s wrong,” said William Paulovitz, 78, referring to the firebrand Florida Republican who has been one of the far-right rebels blocking Mr. McCarthy’s bid for speaker. Mr. Paulovitz, a retired businessman, dismissed his representative’s run for speaker in a place that representative knows all too well — outside Luigi’s, a popular lunch eatery that has long been a piece of Mr. McCarthy’s self-spun Bakersfield lore. 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.
House SpeakerJohnson Elected Speaker of the House, Ending Weeks of Chaos
Both Democrats and Republicans made strides in diversifying their congressional ranks in the November midterm elections, with several historic milestones reached and a record number of women elected. The president also released a statement in the early hours of Saturday after McCarthy was elected House speaker in the 15th round of voting. Prior to that, the last Republican speaker had been Nicholas Longworth of Ohio, who died in 1931.
His role in promoting 2020 election denial
In a speech that traced his ascent up the political ladder in Louisiana to Congress, Mr. Johnson pledged to try to “restore the people’s faith in this House.” He cited sending aid to Israel, fixing a “broken” southern border, and reining in federal spending as his top legislative priorities. Exhausted from the feuding, which unleashed a barrage of recriminations and violent threats against lawmakers, both the right wing and mainstream Republicans finally united to elect Mr. Johnson, 51, in a 220-to-209 vote. “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. The Ukraine aid bill came to the floor after months of delay and despite staunch opposition from the hard right, including a threat from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to call a vote to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson if he allowed such a vote. The mayor of Los Angeles is the chief executive officer of the city.[3] The officeholder is elected for a four-year term,[4] and limited to serving no more than two terms.[5] The 43rd and current mayor is Karen Bass. Earlier this month, Gaetz also cited several reasons for why McCarthy should be ousted, including McCarthy not holding votes on issues like term limits for lawmakers and balanced budgets, and not releasing the full security tapes from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene files motion to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson - NPR
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene files motion to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Posted: Fri, 22 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Congressman Mike Johnson (LA- is elected Speaker of the House.
House Speaker: Johnson Elected Speaker of the House, Ending Weeks of Chaos - The New York Times
House Speaker: Johnson Elected Speaker of the House, Ending Weeks of Chaos.
Posted: Sun, 29 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
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. Just such a "motion to vacate the chair" was filed against Johnson in March by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. But Greene has yet to make the motion "privileged," which under the rules would necessitate a vote within two days. Emmer voted to certify the 2020 election results after Jan. 6, 2021, but signed onto an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn the presidential election results. The former president noted that all of them have supported him "in both mind and spirit" since he won the White House in 2016 and said the five candidates "are beyond reproach and represent the absolute best there is in the Republican Party." Rep. Carlos Giménez of Florida, who supported McCarthy over Jordan, called Johnson a "straightforward leader" who can unite the Republican conference in a post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
U.S. House of Representatives
The comment was a reference to Johnson's work to overturn the results of the 2020 election. "Our commitment to Israel's security is ironclad and Israel has a right to defend itself under the international rules of war against the brutal terror unleashed on its citizens by Hamas," Jeffries said. "From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have been governing for the people," Jeffries said.
Friday night, Mr. McCarthy remained one vote short of what he needed to seal the deal. Representative-elect Eli Crane of Arizona and Representative Matt Rosendale of Montana — the two holdouts who seemed most likely to move — both voted against him, leaving his fate in the hands of his lead tormentor, Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida. The floor fight dragged on for the better part of a week, the longest since 1859, and paralyzed the House, with lawmakers stripped of their security clearances because they could not be sworn in as official members of Congress until a speaker was chosen. Hakeem Jeffries made history as the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress, addressing the 118th Congress for the first time in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The speakership struggle that crippled the House before it had even opened its session suggested that basic tasks such as passing government funding bills or financing the federal debt would prompt epic struggles over the next two years. Now that a House speaker has been selected following a days-long stalemate and members have finally been sworn in, the chamber can look toward picking back up business and organizing GOP-led committees. Prior to the GOP's 40-year sentence as the minority party, several of its speakers had risen to the top rung largely on their personal popularity among their colleagues.
Democrats and durability
But this time around several Democrats have indicated they would cross the aisle to support Johnson and frustrate Greene & Co. if it came to a vote. Democratic leaders have indicated they are open to this, and it essentially repeats the strategy that allowed Johnson to pass the Ukraine portion of the aid bill earlier this month. "Mike is a strong leader who has the full support of our entire conference, and has a proven track record as a conservative leader who will fight for the American people against President Biden's radical agenda that is crushing hard-working families," Scalise said in the statement.
“We went through a lot to get here, but we are ready to govern and that will begin right away,” Johnson says in his first news conference as speaker. Evoking his evangelical Christian faith, Mr. Johnson repeatedly referred to scripture in his speech from the House floor. 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. It will need to come up as a suspension vote — an expedited process that requires a two-thirds majority for passage. 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. House Speaker Mike Johnson entered the speaker's office for the first time after being sworn in, with his new name plate hanging above the door.
Representative Steny Hoyer (MD-5) was elected Majority Leader, and Representative Kevin McCarthy (CA-22) was elected Minority Leader. Learn more about the current House leadership and the history of the Speaker of the House by visiting the House History, Art, and Archives website. Republicans held a candidate forum Tuesday night with five members vying to be the next speaker-designee after Emmer withdrew.
A social conservative, Mr. Johnson is a lawyer and the former chairman of the Republican Study Committee. On Wednesday, Mr. Johnson was toiling to help Republicans turn the page from the chaos of the past few weeks. He said there would be none of the typical celebrations that accompany the election of a new speaker. After a mob of Mr. Trump’s supporters, believing the election was rigged, stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and injured about 150 police officers, Mr. Johnson condemned the violence. But he defended the actions of congressional Republicans in objecting to Mr. Biden’s victory.
Ms. Alli and Ms. Cole work under the clerk of the House of Representatives, Cheryl L. Johnson, who is charged with keeping lawmakers in order until a new speaker is elected. 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. Even before the votes had been secured, many at the bar seemed convinced that electing a speaker was inevitable as the vote drew closer to a close.
Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana won in a three-round vote late Tuesday to become the next speaker-designee — the fourth since Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California was ousted from the position on Oct. 3. Emmer began to lose support from conservative lawmakers shortly after Trump's missive, and he bowed out of the contest shortly after. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had asked the Supreme Court to block "the use of unlawful election results without review and ratification by" the four state legislatures and allow them to appoint a different slate of presidential electors. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the chair of the House Republican conference, will deliver the speech nominating Johnson for speaker, according to a Republican aide. "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. The California Democrat noted Johnson's role in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The Senate and the White House are still controlled by Democrats and any spending bill passed will need Democratic support to become law and avert a shutdown. But what you hear from conservatives – at least in the minutes before and after Johnson won the speaker’s election – is they are willing to give some room for Johnson to maneuver in his new role. After three weeks without a speaker, the House voted Wednesday to elect Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. In a letter earlier this week, the group of 10 New York Republicans, which includes Stefanik, Malliotakis and Lawler, called on Shafik to step aside, saying the recent events on the campus and Shafik's testimony before Congress left them with "no confidence" in the president's leadership.
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