A look at Mike Johnson and the troubled history of Republican speakers : NPR

Table Of Content

• In Johnson, House Republicans Elevate One of Their Staunchest Conservatives
• Biden on Johnson's election: "We have to get moving"
• Government of Los Angeles
• What happened when tempers really got out of control on the House floor.
• The Republican leader claws his way to the post in a dramatic late-night vote.
• His solidly conservative voting record

On October 25, 2023, Congressman Mike Johnson (LA-04) was elected as the Speaker of the House. As a Congressman, Speaker Johnson represents the northwest and western regions of Louisiana. Prior to his election to Congress in 2016, Speaker Johnson was an attorney and served in the Louisiana State Legislature from 2015 to 2017. "I made my decision based on my relationship with the conference," Emmer told reporters when asked whether Trump helped doom his candidacy. Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota declined Tuesday to say whether former President Donald Trump was a factor in his decision to end his bid for the speakership.

In Johnson, House Republicans Elevate One of Their Staunchest Conservatives

The Senate had quietly slipped out of the city while insurgents in the House demanded more power as the nation watched anxiously. A welcome winter rain has tamped down the Central Valley dust, but high winds have sent tumbleweeds bounding down the city’s wide boulevards. 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.

Biden on Johnson's election: "We have to get moving"

“I think the House is in a lot better place with some of the work that’s been done to democratize power out of the speakership, and that’s our goal,” he said. “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.

Mike Johnson is the new speaker of the House. Here's what happens next. - CBS News

Mike Johnson is the new speaker of the House. Here's what happens next..

Posted: Wed, 25 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Government of Los Angeles

"I want to say to the American people on behalf of all of us here, we hear you. We know the challenges you're facing. We know that there's a lot going on in our country, domestically and abroad, and we're ready to get to work again to solve those problems and we will," he said. "Our mission here is to serve you well, to restore the people's faith in this House in this great and essential institution." In a statement distributed by the White House, President Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden extended their congratulations to Johnson, and the president reiterated his commitment to working with him "in good faith" for the American people. "The people's House is back in business," Johnson told colleagues before being sworn in. Rebecca is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the House. Before the vote Wednesday, numerous members of Congress said they knew little about Johnson, with some Republican senators saying they had never even met him.

What happened when tempers really got out of control on the House floor.

Nancy Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Albert's successor, Democrat Tip O'Neill, was a prominent speaker because of his public opposition to the policies of President Ronald Reagan. Republicans made O'Neill the target of their election campaigns in 1980 and 1982 but Democrats managed to retain their majorities in both years.

Johnson says he "feels very good" about speaker vote

In Biden’s first two years, Johnson voted against a slew of bipartisan bills — including one to establish a Jan. 6 independent commission, the infrastructure law, reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, a modest new gun law and the CHIPS and Science Act. On Tuesday night, after he was nominated, Johnson declined to respond to a question about his role in the election objections. Johnson is a constitutional lawyer who has used his talents to craft some creative — and controversial — theories. The most notable is his role in devising an argument aimed at keeping Donald Trump in power even though he lost the 2020 election. 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. Mr. Emmer’s demise was the latest evidence of the seemingly unending Republican dysfunction.

By the 1970s, committees had gained such control over legislative outcomes that widespread reforms were adopted, which shifted power back to the speaker. But the speech infuriated Mr. Trump, and Mr. McCarthy quickly worked to get back in the former president’s good graces, traveling to his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, three weeks later to meet with him. Under pressure to step aside when there appeared to be no chance that he could clinch the speaker’s gavel, he hung on anyway. “He will have to live the entirety of his speakership in a straitjacket constructed by the rules that we’re working on now,” Mr. Gaetz said.

Gimenez, former chief of the City of Miami Fire Department, highlighted that both Johnson and McCarthy are the sons of firefighters. "Mike Johnson and I both represent two of the poorest districts in the country, but the richest in the values held by the great people of #TX23 & #LA04. I look forward to working with him to help SECURE the southern border as OUR next Speaker of the US House," he wrote on social media. GOP lawmakers who withheld their support for Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio during his three rounds of voting on the House floor are beginning to line up behind Johnson. As Johnson made his way from his House office to the floor, he told CBS News that he "feels very good" about the vote and believes he can secure the necessary 217 votes on the first round. "House Democrats believe that when members of the body voted to reject the results of the 2020 election, they forfeited their ability to lead this chamber," Aguilar said.

She could activate a vote at any time so Johnson should know he is skating on thin ice. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the first day of the 117th Congress was modified to accommodate guidelines from the Office of Attending Physician, such as social distancing, reducing the number of guests and staff allowed in the chamber, and mask wearing. Representative Nancy Pelosi (CA-12) was re-elected Speaker and will preside over the chamber for the next two years.

He has also opposed continued funding for the war in Ukraine, which has emerged as a bitter fault line in the G.O.P. and in the spending battles that any new speaker will have to navigate in the coming 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. 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.

Courthouse security is still provided by the county government under a contract with the state. "That's best achieved by having the speaker be another elected representative," Bateman said. “So, the House can function in the narrow sense of meeting, voting, etc.,” Charles Stewart III, a professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,  told USA TODAY. 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.

Despite the divisions on display, Mr. McCarthy also emphasized the theme of unity in a speech after taking the speaker’s gavel, pledging open debate and an open door to both Republicans and Democrats. Yet Mr. McCarthy, who was willing to endure vote after humiliating vote and give in to an escalating list of demands from his opponents to secure the post, denied that the process foretold any dysfunction. With House Republicans’ majority, comes a newfound power to set the agenda — investigative and legislative. "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.

CNN reported that Mr. Trump also called Representative Andy Biggs, who switched from voting against Mr. McCarthy to voting “present” on the 15th round. Even by the heated standards of the tensions that flared among House Republicans during their four-day push to elect a speaker, what happened on the House floor around 11 p.m. The dissidents praised the protracted debate that spotlighted their party’s rifts, made it impossible for legislative business to be conducted and threatened the timely issuance of paychecks on Capitol Hill. The prolonged election prompted tension and uncertainty in the Capitol, where lawmakers in both parties had grown impatient and bored awaiting the outcome of a high-stakes struggle that seemed at once monumental and absurd. “The motion to vacate is accountability,” he added, referring to the measure allowing a snap vote to remove the speaker.