Live updates: Rep Mike Johnson of Louisiana elected speaker of the House

Table Of Content

• Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
• Democratic Leadership
• Let the voting begin
• From Bakersfield to speaker of the House: Kevin McCarthy’s D.C. career in photos
• Johnson Pushes Ahead on Foreign Aid Bill, Teeing Up a Weekend Vote
• Editorial: Speaker Johnson must ignore GOP hardliners and pass Ukraine aid now

We’re counting on your continued support and further U.S. assistance to bring our common victory closer. So much of what House Republicans want to do legislatively will go nowhere in the Democratic Senate, but the Republican majority will be able to conduct the investigations it has promised and McCarthy is emphasizing that point. This is the first time Hal Rogers of Kentucky swears in the speaker, following the death of Don Young of Alaska in 2022. After days of a bare stone wall, the Speaker McCarthy sign has been hung outside the office. Mr. McCarthy’s supporters have bemoaned the drawn-out process and even praised Democrats for staying united despite their ideological differences. Left unmentioned was that many of the same rebels who helped lead the effort in Congress to overturn the 2020 election, giving rise to the assault that day, were also among the final holdouts working to block Mr. McCarthy’s ascent.

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

Johnson’s reliance on Democratic votes to pass key pieces of legislation, including a major government funding bill that cleared the House last month, has outraged some hard-right Republicans. Following his work on George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign, he was appointed special assistant to the labor secretary in 2001, according to his congressional bio. In 2004, at age 29, he was elected to Congress, becoming one of the youngest lawmakers at that time. Historically, the magical number has been 218 out of the 435 members of the House.

Democratic Leadership

His first speakership run came when then-House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) resigned after an internal party battle with members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus. Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy is set to face a case of deja vu come Tuesday. The political future of the 57-year-old will once again be at stake as GOP lawmakers decide whether he should be elected as House speaker. 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.

Let the voting begin

More than seven years later, he is the party’s nominee for speaker after leading the Republican Party to a slim majority in the November midterm elections. He secured the support of most of the conference during a closed-door leadership vote shortly after and overcame a challenge from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). Speaker Pelosi has been a force for accountability, transparency and participation in government.

As Speaker, Johnson Advances What He Once Opposed, Enraging the Right

Representative Victoria Spartz of Indiana, who had voted “present” in previous ballots, also voted for Mr. McCarthy in the 12th vote. Instead, he waited until the end of the roll call to vote “present.” Republicans cheered, but it was not enough. The table provides a complete list of speakers of the House of Representatives. That Democrats would save a Republican speaker is almost inconceivable, and it’s the ultimate evidence that we’ve got a coalition government in the House. The current state of internal politics among House Republicans is so unsettled that almost anything could happen at almost any time. This is a list of elected officials serving the city of Los Angeles, California.

On the floor of the House, the presiding officer is always addressed as "Mister Speaker" or "Madam Speaker", even if that person is serving as speaker pro tempore. When the House resolves itself into a Committee of the Whole, the speaker designates a member to preside over the committee, who is addressed as "Mister Chairman" or "Madam Chairwoman". The presiding officer also rules on all points of order but such rulings may be appealed to the whole House. The speaker is responsible for maintaining decorum in the House and may order the Sergeant-at-Arms to enforce House rules. Historically, there have been several controversial elections to the speakership, such as the contest of 1839.

Who is Rep. Mike Johnson, the new House speaker? - CNN

Who is Rep. Mike Johnson, the new House speaker?.

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

Mr. Johnson immediately faces a host of challenges that dogged his predecessor, Mr. McCarthy. He is confronting a mid-November deadline to pass a measure to fund the government to avert a shutdown. And he will need to lead a conference deeply divided over foreign policy as Congress considers the Biden administration’s $105 billion funding request for Israel, Ukraine and the southern border. The vote put him second in line to the presidency, capping an extraordinary period of twists and turns on Capitol Hill. It marked a victory for the far right that has become a dominant force in the Republican Party, which rose up this month to effectively dictate the removal of an establishment speaker and the installation of an arch-conservative replacement. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer elected by the members of the U.S.

Editorial: Speaker Johnson must ignore GOP hardliners and pass Ukraine aid now

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. Many are skeptical that McCarthy will reach a majority to become speaker on the first ballot.

At one point, Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Alabama, had to be restrained after stepping toward Mr. Gaetz. The upshot is that Democrats are empowered like no House minority in memory. Republicans can pass all the red-meat bills for the MAGA base they want, like punitive measures on immigration or transgender issues, but the bills will die in the Senate. However, Democrats are in control when it comes to bills that must become law, such as on annual spending and debt increases, or should become law, such as aid to Ukraine. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s sin in his tormentors’ view, aside from being utterly distrusted by them and Democrats alike, was to rely on Democrats’ votes to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and fund the government, averting defaults and shutdowns. Even so, McCarthy stuck with the usual divided-government playbook, compromising as little as possible with Democrats and poking them in the eye when he could, not least by opening a groundless impeachment inquiry against Biden.

And by the end of the day, with the majority of the detractors finally coalescing around Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Gaetz appeared to have softened his tone. 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. He also helped ensure the passage of several domestic measures and foreign assistance programs advocated by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Toward the end of the 19th century, the office of speaker began to develop into a very powerful one.

But Mr. McCarthy’s detractors, hard-line Republicans who have railed against federal spending, have demanded a commitment to crack down on the practice as a prerequisite for supporting him. John Boehner was elected speaker when the 112th Congress convened on January 5, 2011, and was subsequently re-elected twice, at the start of the 113th and 114th Congresses. Only by continuing this unorthodox bipartisanship will the House be able to, for example, fund the government for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 and avoid a pre-election shutdown. But it likely won’t persist after the election because either the more unified Democrats will win a majority, or more hard-line Republicans will be elected — and perhaps Trump, too — and the party will revert to obstructionist form. While all Democrats voted in favor of aid to Ukraine and all but Ms. Tlaib supported funding to Taiwan, 37 left-leaning Democrats defected to vote against the Israel aid bill. They said before the vote that they opposed unfettered aid to Israel that could be used in its offensive in Gaza.