Congressman Mike Johnson Elected Speaker of the House

Table Of Content

• Why Rep. Robert Garcia will be ceremonially sworn in to office with a vintage Superman comic
• The 2024 White House Correspondents’ Dinner: Scarlett Johansson, Colin Jost, Keri Russell, Chris Pine plus more
• Overcrowding and building the West Wing
• Notable elections
• More from CBS News
• The divisions playing out in the Capitol this week have posed problems for Kevin McCarthy at home, too.
• Gaetz denies he moved against McCarthy over not tamping down ethics investigation

Rep. Pete Aguilar , the Democratic caucus chair, will deliver the nominating speech for Jeffries. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the chair of the House Republican conference, will deliver the speech nominating Johnson for speaker, according to a Republican aide. "We have to ensure Vladimir Putin is not successful, and I think all the House Republicans are united in that cause." Stefanik praised Johnson as a "man of deep faith" who is a "titan" on the Judiciary Committee and "dedicated member" of the Armed Services Committee.

Why Rep. Robert Garcia will be ceremonially sworn in to office with a vintage Superman comic

He'll have to work within his party and with the Biden White House to figure out how to fund the government before money runs out on Nov. 17 and on delivering critical aid packages to U.S. allies, Ukraine and Israel. Speaker designee Mike Johnson is working the floor ahead of his speakership vote, shaking hands and taking selfies with members. "Mike is a titan on the [House] Judiciary Committee and a dedicated member of the House Armed Services Committee, and as vice chair of our conference, he has united all of our members to speak clearly and boldly on behalf of the American people," Stefanik said. "A friend to all and an enemy to none, Mike is strong, tough, and fair, and above all, Mike is kind." The vote makes Johnson the first speaker ever elected on the fourth ballot of an election. When speaker elections have gone to multiple ballots, no speaker has ever been elected on ballots four to eight.

The 2024 White House Correspondents’ Dinner: Scarlett Johansson, Colin Jost, Keri Russell, Chris Pine plus more

GOP House speaker race crowded as Republicans prepare to vote again - PBS NewsHour

GOP House speaker race crowded as Republicans prepare to vote again.

Posted: Tue, 24 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

But Greene has yet to make the motion "privileged," which under the rules would necessitate a vote within two days. Pressed by reporters on Tuesday night about his efforts to overturn the election, Mr. Johnson smiled and shook his head, saying, “next question,” as Republicans beside him booed. A social conservative, Mr. Johnson is a lawyer and the former chairman of the Republican Study Committee. House Republicans chose and then quickly repudiated yet another of their nominees for speaker on Tuesday and rushed to name a fourth, pressing to put an end to a remarkable three-week-long deadlock that has left Congress leaderless and paralyzed. Mr. Johnson’s hallmark in Congress has been combining his hard-line views with a gentle personal style. That was on display on Wednesday, when he vowed to try to find common ground with Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader.

Overcrowding and building the West Wing

“The motion to vacate is accountability,” he added, referring to the measure allowing a snap vote to remove the speaker. Mr. McCarthy agreed to allow a single lawmaker to force a snap vote at any time to oust the speaker, a rule that he had previously refused to accept, regarding it as tantamount to signing the death warrant for his speakership in advance. “What we’re seeing is the incredibly shrinking speakership, and that’s most unfortunate for Congress,” former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said as she entered the chamber on Friday afternoon. Mr. Gaetz refused to budge, and Mr. McCarthy’s allies moved to adjourn the House until Monday, crestfallen after a defeat they had not anticipated. Republicans quickly switched their votes to oppose the adjournment and proceeded to a 15th speaker vote, which ended well after midnight. After a spectacle of arm-twisting on the House floor, Kevin McCarthy won over just enough of the far-right rebels he needed to become speaker.

Notable elections

A prolific fundraiser and backslapper, he has methodically risen through the ranks of the House Republican leadership team — chief deputy whip, whip, majority leader and GOP leader — over the past 14 years. If the House speaker election has felt endless to you, take a second to imagine the experiences of the chamber’s reading clerks — the two people who have read out the names of every representative in attendance, and recorded their votes, 13 times now, with a 14th expected Friday night. The House is now voting to pass a resolution in support of Israel in the war against Hamas – the first measure to come to the floor to be passed after Speaker Mike Johnson was elected this morning following three weeks of a speakerless-House. The House passed a resolution in support of Israel in the war against Hamas – the first measure to come to the floor after Speaker Mike Johnson was elected earlier Wednesday following three weeks without a speaker. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) made the call late Thursday night to “do what is necessary” to provide the votes to advance the legislation.

A rare coalition of Democrats and Republicans — 316 — voted overwhelmingly to pass the procedural measure, known as a rule, to advance the four-part legislation Friday morning. In a sign of how tenuous this move is for Republicans, more Democrats — 165 — voted for the rule than Republicans — 151. The vote puts the legislation to fund Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on track to pass the House as soon as Saturday.

Through these and other rulings, Reed ensured that the Democrats could not block the Republican agenda. GOP Rep. Scott Perry, a conservative member from Pennsylvania, said Tuesday that members will likely give Johnson some leeway on government spending bills. A member of Congress since 2017, Johnson has no experience in the House leadership, but vowed to hit the ground running and get the House back to work. A government shutdown is fast approaching, and the White House has requested a $106 billion emergency aid package for Israel, Ukraine and other priorities. Johnson prevailed after a chaotic process that saw three other GOP nominees fail to unite the party and secure a majority. He won 220 to 209 in the House vote on Wednesday with unanimous support among Republicans, who enjoy a slim majority in the chamber.

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. The members who ousted McCarthy also told reporters that they have no regrets now about ousting McCarthy. This marks a clear departure from how those same members viewed former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision earlier this month to put a short-term spending bill on the floor, which ultimately led to his ouster.

Johnson was able to unite the fractured conference through a combination of good timing, his conservatism and his reputation for having a pleasant demeanor. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was up next, but after three failed floor votes, he, too, bowed out of the running. The party next selected Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 Republican, as their pick, but he realized he couldn't amass 217 votes either after Trump came out against him, and he quit just hours after winning the nomination. Republicans first nominated the No. 2 leader, Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who dropped out less than 36 hours later after opponents blocked his path to 217 floor votes.

Members of the House had to limit the number of their requests, letters were required documenting the need for the proposed project, and the amount of federal funds that could be directed toward earmarks overall was capped. The practice of earmarking — where a single lawmaker can use a sliver of the sprawling government budget to send money to a specific project in his or her state — has been both embraced and reviled over the years. 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.

He swore in the chamber’s members, ending days of paralysis at the start of Republican rule. Clark served as assistant speaker in the previous Congress, then the party’s No. 4 position in the House. Clark is only the second woman after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve in one of the top two party leadership positions in Congress. The president also released a statement in the early hours of Saturday after McCarthy was elected House speaker in the 15th round of voting.

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. "This is not a dictatorship where one person gets to decide everything for the entire conference. ... So we saw it play out just as it should," De La Cruz told CNN's Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday. The Texas Republican said that while "of course" lawmakers wanted to be sworn in on January 3, "you saw democracy play out over the last week and come to consensus in the wee hours of the morning, and now we're ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work."

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. Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark assumed her role as House minority whip in the early hours of Saturday morning, becoming the highest-ranking Democratic woman in the chamber. 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. As GOP Conference vice chairman, a post he has held since 2021, Johnson is the seventh-ranking Republican on the leadership team.

Republicans still divided on who will be the next House speaker amid mounting pressure - ABC News

Republicans still divided on who will be the next House speaker amid mounting pressure.

Posted: Tue, 10 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

When Chester A. Arthur took office in 1881, he ordered renovations to the White House to take place as soon as the recently widowed Lucretia Garfield moved out. Over twenty wagonloads of furniture and household items were removed from the building and sold at a public auction.[57] All that was saved were bust portraits of John Adams and Martin Van Buren.[58] A proposal was made to build a new residence south of the White House, but it failed to gain support. "Look, you all know Matt Gaetz. You know it was personal," McCarthy said during a news conference on Tuesday following his ousting. 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.

"When I make a statement that I’m praying about it, I am praying about it, and when I get a call from the speaker and he belittles that, to me, that shows another reason why we need a change in leadership,” Burchett told reporters on the way to the House floor Tuesday. Burchett was one of the eight GOP lawmakers who voted to remove McCarthy from the speakership on Tuesday. He said he was going to vote “yes” on the motion to vacate because McCarthy was condescending about his statement that he was praying about what to do on this issue. McHenry, a strong ally of McCarthy’s, played a key role in successfully negotiating the California Republican’s speakership in January by chipping away at some of the same hardline conservatives that opposed McCarthy’s leadership on Tuesday.

The White House became one of the first wheelchair-accessible government buildings in Washington, D.C. When modifications were made during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who used a wheelchair because of his paralytic illness. In the 1990s, Hillary Clinton, at the suggestion of the Visitors Office director, approved the addition of a ramp in the East Wing corridor, affording easier wheelchair access for the public tours and special events that enter through the secure entrance building on the east side. He said he knew becoming Speaker of the House would be challenging, especially after making concessions that allowed one member to bring a motion to vacate him from the post.