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Draft:Speakership of Mike Johnson

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Mike Johnson's tenure as the 56th Speaker of the House began with his swearing in on October 25, 2023. Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, became speaker following his election in the fourth round of voting in the October 2023 Speaker of the House election

Speakership election

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See also: October 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election and Removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House

After Kevin McCarthy was removed from the position of speaker of the House on October 3, 2023, Representative Matt Gaetz floated Johnson's name as a potential replacement.[1] On October 13, Johnson said that he would not run in the upcoming speaker election to succeed McCarthy and endorsed colleague Jim Jordan;[2] on the same day, NBC News reported that Johnson was considering running if Jordan dropped out.[3]

On October 21, after Steve Scalise and Jordan had made unsuccessful bids for speaker,[4][5] Johnson declared his candidacy to become the new Republican nominee for speaker[6] but was beaten by Representative Tom Emmer on October 24. Emmer defeated Johnson, 117 votes to 97, on the fifth ballot.[7] Shortly thereafter, Emmer withdrew his candidacy for the speakership.[8] Later on the same day, House Republicans voted to make Johnson their fourth nominee for speaker; he beat write-in candidate Kevin McCarthy and Representative Byron Donalds, 128 votes to 43 and 29, on the third ballot.[9] Johnson's bid was endorsed by former U.S. President Donald Trump.[10]

On October 25, the full House voted, 220–209,[11] to elect Johnson as the 56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives[12] with every Republican member in attendance voting for him.[13] Johnson was also sworn in as speaker on the same day.[11] He is the first speaker in U.S. history from Louisiana.[14] Johnson had served the shortest tenure of any House member elected speaker, at six years and ten months, since John G. Carlisle in 1883.[15][16] Delivering his first remarks as speaker, he suggested that his position was ordained by God, saying: "I believe that Scripture, the Bible, is very clear: that God is the one who raises up those in authority. He raised up each of you. All of us".[17]

Tenure

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November 2023

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While the October speakership election was ongoing, Hamas invaded Israel which started the Israel–Hamas war. In response to a request from President Biden for aid to Israel, Johnson introduced a $14.5 billion aid package. However, in order to fund the aid, the bill also included cuts from the Internal Revenue Service, angering many Democrats.[18] On November 2, 2023, the bill passed 226 to 196, with twelve Democrats voting in favor of the measure and two Republicans voting against it. The Democrat controlled United State Senate said it would not take up the bill, arguing that the bill was simply a "partisan stunt".[19]

Facing a looming government shutdown on November 17, Johnson proposed a two-step continuing resolution to extend government funding. The bill extended funding for Transportation/Housing and Urban Development, Military Construction/Veterans Affairs, Energy/Water, and Agriculture/Rural Development/Food and Drug Administration until January 19, while the remaining departments had their funding extended until February 2. The two-step approach was introduced with support from the right wing faction of the Republican Party, while the lack of funding cuts was supported by moderates.[20] After the far-right House Freedom Caucus announced they opposed the continuing resolution, Johnson choose to attempt to pass the resolution through a suspension of the rules. This allowed the House to bypass a partisan vote on rules but required the continuing resolution to need a two-thirds majority to pass.[21][22] The continuing resolution passed 336 to 95, after Democrats announced they would support the resolution on order to avert a government shutdown.[23][24] In protest of the lack of funding cuts, one day after the passage of the continuing resolution, members of the Freedom Caucus joined Democrats to block a rule vote to fund the Justice Department.[25]

On November 17, 2023, Johnson fulfilled a campaign promise to publicly release thousands of hours of footage from the January 6 United States Capitol attack. In a statement, Johnson said "This decision will provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media an ability to see for themselves what happened that day, rather than having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials." Former President Donald Trump endorsed the release of the videos. However, Democrats argued that releasing the videos posed a serious security risk.[26][27]

  1. ^ Hiburn, Greg (October 4, 2023). "Could Louisiana's Steve Scalise or Mike Johnson be next speaker of the House?". Shreveport Times. Archived from the original on October 10, 2023. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  2. ^ Ballard, Mark (October 13, 2023). "Congressman Mike Johnson won't run for Speaker of the House". NOLA.com. NOLA.com. Archived from the original on October 14, 2023. Retrieved October 15, 2023.
  3. ^ Clark, Bill (October 13, 2023). "GOP lawmaker plans to launch a bid for House speaker if Jim Jordan falls short". NBC News. NBC News. Archived from the original on October 14, 2023. Retrieved October 15, 2023.
  4. ^ Wong, Scott; Kapur, Sahil; Kaplan, Rebecca; Stewart, Kyle (October 25, 2023). "Republicans nominate Mike Johnson for House speaker in latest attempt to break GOP impasse". NBC News. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  5. ^ "House Republicans pick Rep. Mike Johnson as their fourth speaker nominee". The Washington Post. October 24, 2023. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  6. ^ Gallagher, Kayla (October 21, 2023). "House GOP Vice Chair Mike Johnson Officially Enters Speaker Race". The Messenger. Archived from the original on October 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  7. ^ Solender, Andrew (October 24, 2023). "Tom Emmer wins internal vote to become GOP speaker nominee". Axios.com. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  8. ^ Debusmann, Bernd Jr. (October 24, 2023). "Tom Emmer drops out of race for Speaker of the House". BBC News. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  9. ^ Solender, Andrew (October 24, 2023). "Mike Johnson becomes fourth GOP House speaker nominee in past two weeks". Axios. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
  10. ^ Frazier, Kierra (October 25, 2023). "Trump backs Johnson for House speaker". Politico. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  11. ^ a b Mascaro, Lisa; Groves, Stephen; Amiri, Farnoush; Freking, Kevin (October 25, 2023). "Mike Johnson, a staunch Louisiana conservative, is elected House speaker as GOP moves past chaos". Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  12. ^ "Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson elected House Speaker". wwltv.com. October 25, 2023. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  13. ^ Quinn, Melissa; Watson, Kathryn; Killion, Nikole; Yilek, Caitlin; Linton, Caroline (October 25, 2023). "Mike Johnson elected House speaker with unanimous GOP support, ending weeks of chaos". CBS News. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  14. ^ Kapur, Sahil; Vitali, Ali; Kaplan, Rebecca; Stewart, Kyle (October 25, 2023). "Who is Mike Johnson? Five things to know about the new Republican House speaker". NBC News. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  15. ^ Bade, Rachael (October 25, 2023). "Take four: Can Mike Johnson get 217?". Politico. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  16. ^ Bressner, Noah (October 25, 2023). "Mike Johnson is the least experienced House speaker in 140 years". Axios.com. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  17. ^ Jenkins, Jack (2023-10-26). "Evangelical Mike Johnson 'Raised Up' as House Speaker". Christianity Today. Archived from the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
  18. ^ Choi, Matthew (November 6, 2023). "U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul dismisses House GOP Israel package as going nowhere". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  19. ^ Bogage, Jacob; Hauslohner, Abigal (November 2, 2023). "House passes $14 billion in Israel aid with costly cuts to IRS". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  20. ^ Grayer, Annie (November 12, 2023). "House GOP pursuing two-step plan to avert government shutdown". CNN. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  21. ^ Brufke, Juliegrace (November 14, 2023). "Mike Johnson's shutdown plan gets a hall pass from furious Freedom Caucus". Axios. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  22. ^ Peller, Lauren; Beth Hensley, Sarah; Khan, Mariam (November 14, 2023). "With GOP opposition, Speaker Mike Johnson would need Democratic votes to pass plan to avert shutdown". ABC. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  23. ^ Quinn, Melissa (November 14, 2023). "House passes short-term funding plan to avert government shutdown". CBS News. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  24. ^ Hulse, Carl (November 14, 2023). "In His First Big Showdown, an Unyielding Conservative Yields". The New York Times. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  25. ^ Kane, Paul (November 15, 2023). "Speaker Johnson's honeymoon period is over — or never even began". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  26. ^ Amiri, Farnoush (November 17, 2023). "Speaker Johnson says he'll make 44,000 hours of Jan. 6 footage available to the general public". The AP. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  27. ^ McCordick, Jack (November 18, 2023). "Speaker Mike Johnson Announces Release of 40,000 Hours of January 6 Footage". Vanity Fair. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
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