Second lawmaker calls to oust speaker, putting Johnson's job in peril

Table Of Content

• Congressional Partners
• Some of the Republicans who supported 2020 election lies have led the charge against Kevin McCarthy.
• Jordan is at risk of seeing his opposition grow over multiple ballots, sources say
• McCarthy, All Carrots and No Sticks, Grinned His Way to the Speakership
• Democratic Leader
• Majority Leader
• Rep. Jim Jordan lost his first vote for House speaker Tuesday. Here's what you should know

The components would then be automatically stitched back together into a single package sent to the Senate where hardliners there are also planning procedural moves to stall final approval. At best, Johnson has been able to carve up a Senate-passed version of the bill into separate parts, as is the preference among House Republicans, and the final votes will be on distinct measures — for Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific allies. Without his Republican majority fully behind him, Johnson could not shape the package as the ultra-conservatives demand lest he lose Democratic backing.

Congressional Partners

And the Senate, traditionally viewing itself as the more refined chamber, chose not to hang around for the slugfest in the House. Instead, senators organized without incident and expeditiously vacated the Capitol to let their counterparts across the Rotunda sully themselves alone. There are more questions about how Mr. Rosendale and Mr. Crane may behave in the next round. Mr. Rosendale has signaled there are rules changes that could win him over, although it’s not clear what’s left to give him to appease him.

Republicans fume over House speaker's fundraiser for ‘turncoat’ Texas rep who called far-right lawmakers ‘scumbags’ - New York Post

Republicans fume over House speaker's fundraiser for ‘turncoat’ Texas rep who called far-right lawmakers ‘scumbags’.

Posted: Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:33:00 GMT [source]

Some of the Republicans who supported 2020 election lies have led the charge against Kevin McCarthy.

The list of the 10 speakers who served in the job longest includes just one Republican (and in the ninth slot at that). That speaker was Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, notorious as the autocratic "Czar Cannon" during three two-year tours as speaker that ended with his party's historic defeat in 1910. The well-respected No. 2 Republican, Eric Cantor of Virginia, had lost his primary in 2014. The No. 3, McCarthy, soon ran aground over remarks in a TV interview and lacked the votes to be speaker. The party settled on Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who had not sought the gavel but agreed to take it. Like Johnson an era later, Hastert was a relatively quiet member of the leadership who enjoyed goodwill generally in the rank and file.

Jordan is at risk of seeing his opposition grow over multiple ballots, sources say

Republicans, even those who supported the process, were severely disappointed it had come to this. “It just shows how the Republicans cannot manage the House and the House floor to get things done,” Meeks said. He added that in his 26 years in the House, he had never seen one party have to help the other like Democrats did this week. The package would also include a fourth provision that includes many Republican priorities that Democrats endorse, or at least are willing to accept.

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

That's what the Democrats did when a motion to vacate the chair ousted the last Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, last fall. Greene has filed a “motion to vacate” the speaker from office, and it drew another supporter Friday as Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, co-sponsored the motion. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, another co-sponsor, suggested that before the House breaks next week others could follow, building pressure on Johnson to step down. Speaking with reporters, House Speaker Mike Johnson says the aid package is the product of a divided government.

Such steps, however, would inevitably prolong the process of approving spending bills. When Representative Chip Roy of Texas, then a freshman and now one of Mr. McCarthy’s most vocal opponents, forced roll call votes on every amendment in spending bills in 2019, the process of approving them dragged on for two weeks. They had demanded the ability to hold a vote on the House floor for each individual earmark. In an effort to win them over, Mr. McCarthy has offered to give rank-and-file lawmakers more influence in the process of writing spending bills. One official briefed on that emerging compromise said if a lawmaker took issue with a certain earmark, they could force such a vote.

Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. Evidence cited in the committee’s report was made public over the weekend, but Republicans are seeking to hold back hundreds of thousands of pages of underlying evidence that was scheduled to go into storage for up to 50 years. Pelosi celebrated the important work that SFMFB does in distributing food throughout the city and highlighted the recent $1 million dollars in federal Community Project Funding she secured for the Food Bank’s new 5,200 square foot walk in cooler. Representative Nancy Pelosi (CA-12) was re-elected Speaker and will preside over the chamber for the next two years. Representative Steny Hoyer (MD-5) was elected Majority Leader, and Representative Kevin McCarthy (CA-22) was elected Minority Leader.

Johnson returned to the House to applause from those in the chamber, and McHenry called the House back into order. "Would you all like to get right into governing?" Johnson asked after taking the oath. Johnson listed a number of his priorities, including border security, cutting federal spending and establishing a bipartisan debt commission "immediately."

Rep. Jim Jordan lost his first vote for House speaker Tuesday. Here's what you should know

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. “From an outside point of view these last few weeks probably look like total chaos, confusion, no end in sight," he said. "But from my perspective, this is one of the greatest experiences of the recent history of our republic." Representative Ken Buck of Colorado said that Mr. Johnson was not involved in postelection efforts to invalidate the results, even though Mr. Johnson was a critical player in those activities. Mainstream conservatives who backed Mr. Johnson said they hoped to quickly move to pull the House out of its funk.

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. Massie’s support for what is known as a motion to vacate – a procedural vote to remove the speaker – puts Johnson’s job in jeopardy, as Republicans control the House with a razor-thin majority and conservative ire continues to grow at the embattled speaker. Shortly after unveiling a plan to deliver foreign aid to key U.S. allies, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., forcibly came out against the House speaker's proposal in a closed-door conference meeting on Tuesday morning, announcing he would support an existing effort to oust Johnson. Jordan fell significantly short of winning the speaker’s gavel on a first ballot Tuesday, leaving the House in paralysis after 20 Republicans opposed the Ohio congressman.

Members often liven up the proceedings by shouting or standing when casting their vote. Won a closed-door vote to become the Republican nominee for speaker, but withdrew his candidacy after failing to win over holdouts before a floor vote. In previous rounds of voting, as many as 25 Republicans opposed their party’s nominee. Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota declined Tuesday to say whether former President Donald Trump was a factor in his decision to end his bid for the speakership.

The challenge for House Republicans is they still have eight more spending bills to pass including two that have been stuck in committee because of disagreements within GOP ranks. In his letter to colleagues, Johnson set out an aggressive time table for passing the bills, but the issue will be finding a way to pass the legislation in just a narrow GOP majority. After three weeks without a speaker, the House voted Wednesday to elect Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. On January 3, 2021, the 1st day of the 117th Congress and 2 months after the 2020 U.S. The outgoing speaker will usually join the successor at the speaker’s chair, where they will pass the gavel as a nod to the peaceful transition of power from one party leader to another. This time around, that will be Pelosi, the California Democrat who held the gavel for the last four years.

Once a speaker candidate wins a majority of the vote, the clerk will announce the results of the election. It’s a journey the lawmaker from Bakersfield took once before in 2015, fruitlessly, facing the same opposition from the right flank of the party he is expected to meet this week. 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. "We need to move swiftly to address our national security needs and to avoid a shutdown in 22 days. Even though we have real disagreements about important issues, there should be mutual effort to find common ground wherever we can," the president said. "This is a time for all of us to act responsibly, and to put the good of the American people and the everyday priorities of American families above any partisanship." Speaking after the vote, Johnson vowed to hit the ground running and get the House back to work.

Jordan’s allies were hoping that Scalise supporters would help whip fellow Scalise allies who voted against Jordan. But Scalise’s allies feel like they did far more to rally around Jordan than Jordan did when Scalise initially won the nomination last week. After the first vote, the House recessed and Jordan shuffled between the speaker’s office and the majority whip’s office holding meetings. Information about the source, type, amount, or value of the incomes of representatives, officers, and candidates. “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.

Not every Republican involved in blocking Mr. McCarthy’s ascension was among those who voted against certifying Mr. Biden’s victory. “We stand here with our democracy intact because of those officers,” said Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the top Democrat in the House, as tears welled up in some House members’ eyes. While some had received subpoenas in the Jan. 6 investigations and were later referred to the House Ethics Committee, their power showed they were far from outcasts and had paid little price for their actions. “That remains an issue to be resolved,” said Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, as he shuttled between meetings on Thursday.