Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Wikipedia

Table Of Content

• Bipartisan lawmakers "interacted more this week than we have in the last four years," GOP congressman says
• Rep. Mike Johnson has been elected speaker. Here's what to know
• Stefanik to deliver nominating speech for Johnson
• Some of the Republicans who supported 2020 election lies have led the charge against Kevin McCarthy.
• McCarthy, All Carrots and No Sticks, Grinned His Way to the Speakership
• The Republican leader claws his way to the post in a dramatic late-night vote.
• Republicans who opposed Jordan for speaker are now rallying behind Johnson

A bipartisan coalition in the House, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), has overcome a key procedural hurdle to advance a $95 billion foreign aid bill, despite objections from far-right lawmakers. The House approval on Saturday of money for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan over angry objections from the extreme right was the latest and perhaps most striking example of a bipartisan approach forged out of necessity. The coalition first sprang up last year to spare the government a catastrophic debt default, and has reassembled at key moments since then to keep federal agencies funded. But the intransigence of that bloc instead forced Republicans and Democrats into an ad hoc coalition government that is now on the verge of delivering long-delayed foreign military aid and a victory to the Democratic president.

Bipartisan lawmakers "interacted more this week than we have in the last four years," GOP congressman says

He determined the agenda of the House, appointed the members of all committees, chose committee chairmen, headed the Rules Committee, and determined which committee heard each bill. He vigorously used his powers to ensure that Republican proposals were passed by the House. Toward the end of the 19th century, the office of speaker began to develop into a very powerful one.

Rep. Mike Johnson has been elected speaker. Here's what to know

There will also be some must-pass policy issues — like funding the government — that will test the ability of Republicans and Democrats to work together. In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with CNN ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy outlined his plans for power. With House Republicans’ majority, comes a newfound power to set the agenda — investigative and legislative. Every new Congress must pass a new set of House rules, and doing so will be the top of the 118th Congress’ to-do list when the House reconvenes Monday.

Stefanik to deliver nominating speech for Johnson

“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. Asked if he would bring a vote to oust Johnson if he put forth a short-term spending bill at current spending levels, Rep. Matt Gaetz said he’s optimistic Johnson will be able to actually pass the individual spending bills. A West Wing official supportive of the press secretary provided The Post with text from an email written by Dunn ahead of Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi’s Dec. 11 article that noted National Security Council spokesman John Kirby’s increased profile as co-briefer alongside Jean-Pierre. In December, not long after word of Dunn’s plan circulated in the White House, Jean-Pierre received and rejected an unsolicited offer to become president of EMILYs List, a major Democratic group that raises money for female candidates who support expanded abortion rights. “She has been pretty consistent in telling people from the minute she got the job that she was going to stay through the election,” they said.

But it will most likely fail because the measure needs the support of two-thirds of the House since it is moving under a different process. Lawmakers in support of the legislation praised the rare show of bipartisanship on the House floor Friday morning. Despite threats to Johnson’s job, the speaker decided to rely on Democrats to muscle through his aid package. The speaker’s long-awaited action comes at a pivotal time for Ukraine in its war against Russia as U.S. and Ukrainian officials warn of mounting casualties and rationing artillery shells without an infusion of weaponry from the United States, which is Ukraine’s biggest military backer.

The most recent package was approved in 2018 and expired Sept. 30, though some of its provisions remain in place, according to the Department of Agriculture. Mr. Emmer had attempted to mollify Mr. Trump by calling him over the weekend and praising him, according to the former president. Some hard-right Republicans consider themselves a distinct political party from their more mainstream, business-minded colleagues, whom they accuse of being in a “uniparty” with Democrats. By Tuesday evening, five more Republicans, none with a national profile, were vying for the nomination. Mr. Johnson won after multiple rounds of ballots, beating out Representative Byron Donalds of Florida, a member of the Freedom Caucus. Only hours later, Mr. Emmer told Republicans in a closed-door meeting that he was dropping his bid, according to a person familiar with his decision who divulged the private discussion on the condition of anonymity.

Kevin McCarthy voted out: first House Speaker to be ousted - The Associated Press

Kevin McCarthy voted out: first House Speaker to be ousted.

Posted: Tue, 03 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

McCarthy, All Carrots and No Sticks, Grinned His Way to the Speakership

Washington — Rep. Mike Johnson, a little-known Republican lawmaker from Louisiana, is now second in line for the presidency after winning a vote to become the next speaker of the House, more than three weeks after Rep. Kevin McCarthy's ouster left the chamber without a leader. Any candidate for speaker can lose only a handful of votes and still win the speakership because Republicans hold such a small majority in the House. In a secret-ballot vote on Tuesday night, Mr. Johnson got 128 votes, with 44 Republicans voting for nominees not on the ballot, including 43 for Mr. McCarthy, whom many view as unfairly ousted. Still, in a separate vote afterward, only a few Republicans indicated they would not back Mr. Johnson on the floor, while about 20 Republicans were absent. Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, a founder of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus and someone Mr. Johnson has described as a mentor, was the next member to be elected speaker designate in a secret ballot.

The Republican leader claws his way to the post in a dramatic late-night vote.

“The empty chair is such poetry,” one onlooker said before the vote, pointing at the screen. A bartender switched the channel from basketball to C-SPAN about 10 minutes before the vote was set to start, but it was only when the session was called to order that the rowdy crowd turned its attention fully to the screens, hooting and clapping. WASHINGTON — Kevin McCarthy’s chaotic campaign for the speakership has become, for some in Washington, a spectacle to be consumed with the urgency of a major sporting event.

Republicans who opposed Jordan for speaker are now rallying behind Johnson

They included promised spending cuts; a package of rules changes that empowered members and watered down the speaker’s power; and giving House Freedom Caucus members seats on Rules, Appropriations and other powerful committees. WASHINGTON — GOP leader Kevin McCarthy beat back a conservative rebellion and won election as the 55th speaker of the House early Saturday morning, following a chaotic confrontation on the House floor between his allies and his far-right opponents, ending four days of deadlock. Mr. Gaetz said on Tuesday that lawmakers should not give the post to somebody willing to sell “shares of himself to get” it. Even as some lawmakers have grumbled about the revival of earmarking, neither House nor Senate Republicans have issued a binding ban against including them in spending bills.

Democrats have been signaling they would support Johnson, but they withheld an outright announcement, wanting to ensure that they weren’t going to be forced to take votes on overtly political amendments and that the bill was structured so funding for Ukraine would actually pass. The foreign aid package will then go to the Senate, where senators will have to vote again on it before the bills can be sent to President Biden, who has endorsed the package. The House will also vote Saturday on a fifth bill of Republican priorities to secure the border and limit migrants entering the United States.

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. 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. Representative Victoria Spartz of Indiana, who had voted “present” in previous ballots, also voted for Mr. McCarthy in the 12th vote.

It was the first time Massie has opposed a rule in committee since he was put there by then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Some on the right opposed to Mr. Emmer cited his vote in favor of codifying federal protections for same-sex couples. Others railed against Mr. Emmer’s vote in favor of a stopgap spending bill put forward by Mr. McCarthy, the speaker at the time, to avert a government shutdown. Still others said he was insufficiently loyal to Mr. Trump, because he voted to certify the results of the 2020 election won by President Biden. For three days this week, a band of roughly 20 conservative hard-liners voted 11 consecutive times to block McCarthy from winning the prized gavel, even as former President Donald Trump was personally dialing up McCarthy foes to end their opposition. Some called on McCarthy to drop out, while others placed demands on him that jeopardized his fragile GOP coalition of moderates and conservatives.