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

Table Of Content

• Paul Ryan
• Committee assignments
• Mike Johnson elected House speaker with unanimous GOP support, ending weeks of chaos
• Johnson says he "feels very good" about speaker vote
• Republicans are now just one short of a House majority. Here's where things stand
• Jeffries says there has been "zero" discussion about helping Emmer
• The third ballot

The chamber has been frozen for the better part of a month as Republicans feud over who should be in charge, even as wars rage overseas and a government shutdown approaches. 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. 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.

Paul Ryan

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. 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.

Committee assignments

“We’re going to show not only Israel but the entire world that the barbarism of Hamas" is "wretched and wrong,” he said. Johnson said Republicans would "dispense with all of the usual ceremonies and celebrations” and get to work. “You’re going to see an aggressive schedule in the days and weeks ahead,” he said. She has written for outlets including the Washington Examiner, Daily Signal and Alexandria Times. Melissa covers U.S. politics, with a focus on the Supreme Court and federal courts.

Mike Johnson elected House speaker with unanimous GOP support, ending weeks of chaos

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. Echoing one of the many grievances shared by hard-right Republicans who opposed all of the aid measures, Mr. Good said his support for “Israel’s right to defend itself remains unshakeable” but that he disagreed with a measure that would add to the nation’s debt. Ryan is a native of Janesville, Wisconsin, and graduated from Miami University in 1992.

GOP Rep. Bice considering running for Johnson's former leadership role

After the Republican conference meeting ended, Johnson spoke briefly to reporters and said that his intention is to go the House floor Wednesday for a noon vote. He did not disclose the tally of the roll call vote in the conference to gauge support for his nomination, but said he was "very confident" he could win the 217 GOP votes he needs to win the speaker's gavel on the House floor. The third nominee, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, dropped out of the Republican race for speaker just four hours after he was elected Tuesday. He failed to persuade far-right members of the conference to support him on the floor. Sources told CNN earlier Wednesday that there was a "big push" to bring the bill to the floor once the House elected a new speaker. As House Republicans gathered earlier in the week to select their third nominee for speaker, Trump vowed to remain on the sidelines of the race.

US elections 2024: Eleven House races to watch - Reuters

US elections 2024: Eleven House races to watch.

Posted: Thu, 25 Apr 2024 19:49:00 GMT [source]

WASHINGTON – After House Republicans voted to drop Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as their speaker nominee, a mad dash for the top job has started within the deeply divided House Republican conference. Trump has not endorsed any of the several candidates running to be the third speaker nominee, though he said ahead of the candidate forum that he had spoken with several. At a forum Monday night, speaker candidates pitched their ideas to the rank and file in the party. Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama announced ahead of the closed-door conference meeting that he is dropping out of the race to be speaker, leaving seven candidates vying for the position. "One of the things that I think won a big round of applause inside the room was that Tom Emmer said, 'Listen, we're not gonna do this shell diplomacy," Johnson told reporters. "We're not gonna break up in small rooms. I'm not gonna say one thing to you differently than what I'm gonna say to you."

"I said there's only one person that can do it all the way. You know who that is? Jesus Christ." Donalds told reporters his feeling about the conference is that "we need to get back to work, secure our border, fund our government responsibly, and hold this administration accountable. And last but not least, our members, we've got to be focused on purpose and mission." After the first round of voting, Sessions received the lowest number of votes and was eliminated. Following his win, the Republican conference held a roll call vote to gauge Emmer's support.

Jeffries says there has been "zero" discussion about helping Emmer

Sessions is among the growing list of members who are throwing their hat in the ring for speaker now that the field is wide open. Texas GOP Rep. Pete Sessions is also making calls to members telling them he is running for speaker, a lawmaker who received a call from Sessions tells CNN. Rep. Kevin McCarthy is backing Rep. Tom Emmer for House speaker, sources tell CNN, delivering an early boost to his candidacy in what is shaping up to be a crowded race. McCarthy did not publicly endorse a candidate when Rep. Jim Jordan and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise vied for the nomination. There’s a strong desire among Republicans to show a functioning House after being paralyzed for weeks following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Both lasted only the minimum two years, the first ending with Democratic Harry S. Truman's surprise White House win in 1948. Martin was back four years later when Eisenhower was first elected president in 1952, but that tour at the top was cut short by his party's sharp losses two years later. The House elects a new speaker by roll call vote when it first convenes after a general election for its two-year term, or when a speaker dies, resigns or is removed from the position intra-term. Still, 37 “no” votes, while a break from Washington’s ironclad support for the Jewish state, fell short of the opposition bloc progressives had hoped to muster. Thirty-nine Democrats had voted “no” on Friday on the rule to allow the foreign aid package to come to the House floor, a target that progressives just missed on Saturday on the Israel bill. Fourteen of those Democrats voted on Saturday in favor of aid to Israel, while 12 Democrats who voted to allow the package on the floor on Friday then cast votes against the funding itself.

But Republicans did not fulfill widespread predictions of large gains, as their majority was narrow. McCarthy won an internal Republican conference vote in early November, with 188 votes to Andy Biggs's 31, but some members of the conference continued to oppose his bid for speaker. At other times, more junior members may be assigned to preside to give them experience with the rules and procedures of the House. The speaker may also designate, with approval of the House, a speaker pro tempore for special purposes, such as designating a representative whose district is near Washington, D.C.

Mr. Johnson instead faulted the way some states had changed voting procedures during the pandemic, saying it was unconstitutional. If Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio was the most prominent public face of the congressional effort to fight the results of the 2020 election, his mentee, the newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, was a silent but pivotal partner. Democrats were scathing in their assessment of Mr. Johnson’s ascent to the speakership. Representative Pete Aguilar of California, the Democratic conference chairman, said that the speaker fight had devolved into a contest over “who can appease Donald Trump.” At that line, a handful of hard-right Republicans stood and applauded.