Table Of Content
- Information for candidates
- Mike Johnson is now House speaker. Here’s the latest.
- Column: The Republican Party can still do what’s rational and right. Here’s the proof
- Democratic Caucus Vice Chair
- Government Accountability Office
- Election of the speaker
- Who is new House Speaker Mike Johnson and what can he accomplish?
Gingrich had been a backbench rabble-rouser since coming to the House in 1978 and built up a cadre of supporters until he won the party's No. 2 power position as minority whip in 1989. He soon eclipsed the party's leader, Robert Michel, who was nearing retirement. Two colleagues had spoken up to say they would join Greene in such a vote, giving her enough to defeat the speaker if all the chamber's Democrats voted to do the same. That's what the Democrats did when a motion to vacate the chair ousted the last Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, last fall. Greene had vowed to press her challenge after Johnson announced a strategy to pass $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan earlier this month. About two-thirds of that money was for Ukraine, an issue Greene had called her "red line" for moving against the speaker.
Information for candidates
At the time, one of the most important sources of the speaker's power was his position as Chairman of the Committee on Rules, which, after the reorganization of the committee system in 1880, became one of the most powerful standing committees of the House. Furthermore, several speakers became leading figures in their political parties; examples include Democrats Samuel J. Randall, John Griffin Carlisle, and Charles F. Crisp, and Republicans James G. Blaine, Thomas Brackett Reed, and Joseph Gurney Cannon. But this time around several Democrats have indicated they would cross the aisle to support Johnson and frustrate Greene & Co. if it came to a vote. Democratic leaders have indicated they are open to this, and it essentially repeats the strategy that allowed Johnson to pass the Ukraine portion of the aid bill earlier this month. House Republicans have long accused elite colleges and universities of skewing left and pursuing a “woke” agenda that tramples on parental rights. But the antiwar outbursts on campuses across the country that began shortly after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel — and the rise of antisemitism on college campuses, according to the Anti-Defamation League — are now oft-repeated targets of Republican criticism.
Mike Johnson is now House speaker. Here’s the latest.
The other is more interested in aiming for the impossible and then complaining about falling short. Lisa Desjardins is a correspondent for PBS NewsHour, where she covers news from the U.S. Capitol while also traveling across the country to report on how decisions in Washington affect people where they live and work. 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.
House speaker chaos: What is going on? Will it affect you? - CNN
House speaker chaos: What is going on? Will it affect you?.
Posted: Thu, 05 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Column: The Republican Party can still do what’s rational and right. Here’s the proof
The speaker is responsible for ensuring that the House passes legislation supported by the majority party. In pursuing this goal, the speaker may use their influence over the Rules committee, which is in charge of the business of the House. But by late Tuesday night, Mr. Johnson appeared to have put together a coalition that brought him closer to capturing the speakership than any candidate has been since hard-right rebels deposed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy three weeks ago. Though it was not certain he had the votes to be elected, he said he planned to call for a floor vote on Wednesday at noon. The roles of the parties reversed in 1994 when, after spending forty years in the minority, the Republicans regained control of the House with the "Contract with America", an idea spearheaded by Minority Whip Newt Gingrich.
Democratic Caucus Vice Chair
Mark Z. Barabak is a political columnist for the Los Angeles Times, focusing on California and the West. He has covered campaigns and elections in 49 of the 50 states, including a dozen presidential contests and scores of mayoral, legislative, gubernatorial and congressional races. He also reported from the White House and Capitol Hill during the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations. McCarthy’s successor, Johnson, brought four bills to the House floor Saturday — three to provide vital military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and one to force a Chinese company to sell TikTok or cease operating in the United States. The bills passed overwhelmingly, with all but the Ukraine bill winning a majority of Republicans’ votes. Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina became the speaker pro tempore and will preside over the vote and selection of the chamber’s next speaker after eight Republicans led by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz joined Democrats in voting to remove McCarthy from the position.
From Bakersfield to speaker of the House: Kevin McCarthy’s D.C. career in photos
The next two figures in the House Republican leadership hierarchy, Majority Leader Richard Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay chose not to run for the office. The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Bob Livingston, declared his bid for the speakership, which was unopposed, making him speaker-designate. It was then revealed, by Livingston himself, who had been publicly critical of President Bill Clinton's alleged perjury during his sexual harassment trial, that he had engaged in an extramarital affair. He opted to resign from the House, despite being urged to stay on by House Democratic leader Gephardt. Subsequently, the chief deputy whip Dennis Hastert was selected as speaker. The Republicans retained their majorities in the 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections.
Government Accountability Office
Eight Republicans backed that move along with Democrats, who remained united behind their own leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Republicans had cast aside two previous winners of their closed-door nominating process — Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio — before settling on Mr. Emmer. 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.
A social conservative, Mr. Johnson is a lawyer and the former chairman of the Republican Study Committee. Instead, he moved quickly to bring up a resolution expressing solidarity and support for Israel. His next order of business, he said, would be addressing what he called the country’s “broken border” with Mexico. He made no mention of the impeachment inquiry into President Biden, or of the impending government shutdown that will begin next month if Congress fails to pass legislation to keep the government funded.
Who is new House Speaker Mike Johnson and what can he accomplish?
Three others — Bob Good of Virginia, Eli Crane of Arizona and Nancy Mace of South Carolina — face strong primary challenges. McCarthy has been working behind the scenes to end their congressional careers, strategizing and directing money and other resources to their opponents. He’s traveling the country giving six-figure speeches, playing pundit and elder statesman on TV, holding forth at high-brow political forums and, not least, plotting vengeance against those behind his unceremonious ouster as House speaker. The US has so far sent Ukraine roughly $111bn in weapons, equipment, humanitarian assistance and other aid since the start of the war more than two years ago. Democrats have said they may support Johnson in any effort by the Republican far-right to oust him over Ukraine aid. By splitting the bill into four, Johson sought to give recalcitrant far-right members of his own GOP conference the opportunity to vote with their conscience on the parts they disliked.
Immediately after the bill passed, ZelenskIy released a statement expressing his gratitude to both parties “and personally Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that keeps history on the right track”. Voting began hours ahead of schedule in an extraordinary Saturday session that delayed the House’s planned recess. The House erupted into applause when the Ukraine bill passed, with the chair, Marc Molinaro of New York, admonishing members not to wave Ukrainian flags. After months of stalling, the US House of Representatives finally approved more than $61bn worth of military assistance to help Ukraine in its desperate defense against Russia, as well as billions for other allies including Israel and Taiwan.
With Republican lawmakers growing irritable after days of fruitless voting, a heated argument broke out between several of them. But Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama, a McCarthy ally who is in line to become the next chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, took it to another level when he stepped toward Mr. Gaetz and had to be restrained. Probing “the weaponization of the F.B.I.” as McCarthy just mentioned, was a big priority of the hard-right flank of defectors. Chip Roy of Texas said earlier tonight that the defectors won an assurance that McCarthy would launch a select committee investigating the “weaponization of government” that would receive “the kind of budget and the kind of staffing” that the Jan. 6 select committee received.
He said he feels safe on campus but understands why others do not and that his roommate booked a last-minute flight home over safety concerns. House Republicans who visited Columbia with the speaker made clear they would follow through with punishing colleges and universities if the protests are not controlled. The erstwhile speaker, who remains in touch with the ex-president, has been mentioned as a prospective recruit for a second Trump administration.
GOP lawmakers are seeking to slash federal funding for universities and have hauled university officials to Capitol Hill to answer questions such as whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate their schools’ code of conduct. Members were voting on a package worth close to $95bn in total, but which had been broken up into four separate bills, as Johnson effectively de-coupled the vote on Ukraine from funding for Israel, which is more widely supported among both Democrats and Republicans. First, few Republicans — including some who oppose Johnson — want to be seen following the lead of the House’s most notorious cranks and bigots. Second, Trump doesn’t want the Republican caucus to turn into an embarrassing circular firing squad while he is running for president. (It’s remarkable that Trump is worried that other Republicans will make him look bad.) Third, Democrats have signaled that they will help Johnson keep his job after he courageously did the right thing.
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