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Post by Admin on Oct 25, 2023 15:43:42 GMT
Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson is the Republican Party’s latest nominee for House speaker after a late-night Tuesday vote—just hours after Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) bailed out of his nomination after less than a day in the hot seat.  Johnson, the Republican Vice Conference Chair, who Emmer previously beat for the nomination, is now the frontrunner after three failed attempts and three weeks without a Speaker of the House. Johnson picked up the nomination Tuesday night as the new speaker designate with 128 votes. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) scored 43 votes. According to Politico, audible clapping could be heard as Johnson's name was announced. It came after more than 13 hours of back and forth between warring factions of Republicans. Just after noon on Tuesday, Emmer (R-MN) won the House GOP's nomination to be Speaker. About four hours later, he had already dropped out. As the news circulated on social media, the current No. 3 House Republican was seen briskly walking out of a GOP conference meeting on Tuesday afternoon and into a waiting car. |
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Post by Admin on Oct 25, 2023 16:22:55 GMT
WATCH LIVE: House meets again to vote for new speaker after GOP nominates Rep. Mike Johnson
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Post by Admin on Oct 25, 2023 19:48:48 GMT
Democrats again nominated their leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, criticizing Johnson as an architect of Trump's legal effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
With Republicans controlling the House only 221-212 over Democrats, Johnson could afford just a few detractors to win the gavel. He won 220-209, with a few absences.
Jeffries said House Democrats will find “common ground” work with Republicans whenever possible for the “good of the country.”
Lawmakers were quickly reconvening in what has been a shuttered chamber to consider a House resolution in support of Israel in the war against Hamas.
Overnight the endorsements for Johnson started pouring in, including from failed speaker hopefuls. Rep. Jim Jordan, the hard-charging Judiciary Committee chairman, gave his support, as did Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the fellow Louisiana congressman, who stood behind Johnson after he won the nomination.
“Mike! Mike! Mike!” lawmakers chanted at a press conference after the late-night internal vote, surrounding Johnson and posing for selfies in a show of support.
Anxious and exhausted, Republican lawmakers are desperately trying to move on.
Johnson's rise comes after a tumultuous month, capped by a head-spinning Tuesday that within a span of a few hours saw one candidate, Rep. Tom Emmer, the GOP Whip, nominated and then quickly withdraw when it became clear he would be the third candidate unable to secure enough support from GOP colleagues after Trump bashed his nomination.
“He wasn’t MAGA,” said Trump, referring to his Make America Great Again campaign slogan.
Attention quickly turned to Johnson. A lawyer specializing in constitutional issues, Johnson had rallied Republicans around Trump’s legal effort to overturn the 2020 election results.
Elevating Johnson to speaker gives Louisianians two high-ranking GOP leaders, putting him above Scalise, who was rejected by hard-liners in his own bid as speaker.
Johnson is affable and well liked, and colleagues swiftly started giving him their support.
The congressman, who often refers to his Christian beliefs, said to the American people watching: "Our mission here is to serve you well and to restore the people’s faith in this House.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who led a small band of hard-liners to engineer McCarthy's ouster at the start of the month, posted on social media that “Mike Johnson won’t be the Speaker the Swamp wants but, he is the Speaker America needs.”
Republicans have been flailing all month, unable to conduct routine business as they fight amongst themselves with daunting challenges ahead.
The federal government risks a shutdown in a matter of weeks if Congress fails to pass funding legislation by a Nov. 17 deadline to keep services and offices running. More immediately, President Biden has asked Congress to provide $105 billion in aid — to help Israel and Ukraine amid their wars and to shore up the U.S. border with Mexico. Federal aviation and farming programs face expiration without action.
Many hard-liners have been resisting a leader who voted for the budget deal that McCarthy struck with Biden earlier this year, which set federal spending levels that far-right Republicans don't agree with and now want to undo. They are pursuing steeper cuts to federal programs and services with next month's funding deadline.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said she wanted assurances the candidates would pursue impeachment inquiries into Biden and other top Cabinet officials.
In all, some 15 congressmen, but no women, competed for the gavel over the past several weeks.
During the turmoil, the House was led by a speaker pro tempore, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., the bow tie-wearing chairman of the Financial Services Committee. His main job was to elect a more permanent speaker.
Some Republicans — and Democrats — wanted to give McHenry more power to get on with the routine business of governing. But McHenry, the first person to be in the position that was created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks as an emergency measure, declined to back those overtures. He, too, received a standing ovation.
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Post by Admin on Oct 25, 2023 19:52:28 GMT
The House of Representatives elected Rep. Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, as its next speaker on Wednesday. Republicans united behind Johnson after failing to find consensus for three weeks following the historic ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy. Chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett anchors CBS News' special report.
CBS News Streaming Network is the premier 24/7 anchored streaming news service from CBS News and Stations, available free to everyone with access to the Internet. The CBS News Streaming Network is your destination for breaking news, live events and original reporting locally, nationally and around the globe. Launched in November 2014 as CBSN, the CBS News Streaming Network is available live in 91 countries and on 30 digital platforms and apps, as well as on CBSNews.com and Paramount+.
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Post by Admin on Oct 25, 2023 20:14:36 GMT
Johnson made a strong statement in support of Ukraine in its effort to fight back against Russia in the wake of the invasion in February 2022.
“We should impose debilitating sanctions on Russia’s economic interests,” Johnson said in the statement, posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “We should return to robust American energy production to provide greater stability and security here and for our European allies. We should exclude Russia from global commerce and international institutions. Even though the best time to take these actions has passed, we must act decisively.”
“America’s prayers remain with the Ukrainian people,” Johnson continued.
In April 2022, he voted for The Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022, a bill that had an aim of easing the process for the U.S. to send military aid to Ukraine. The bill was later signed by President Biden and became law.
However, in recent times, he has taken a skeptical stance toward aid for Ukraine. He voted against two different appropriations bills that provided aid to Ukraine in 2022 and just last month.
“American taxpayers have sent over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine in the last year,” Johnson said in an X post in February. “They deserve to know if the Ukrainian government is being entirely forthcoming and transparent about the use of this massive sum of taxpayer resources.”
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