Live updates: Rep Mike Johnson of Louisiana elected speaker of the House

Table Of Content

• DeSantis, Trump meet to make peace, plan fundraising
• McHenry tamps down talk of resolution giving him broader powers
• Calmes: That scowl. The gag order. Frightened jurors. Who’s on trial, a former president or a mob boss?
• Jordan is defeated again for speaker as the Republican stalemate deepens.
• Republican lawmaker says she received death threats after voting against Jim Jordan in speaker’s race
• Next House speaker vote scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow as bid to empower McHenry fails

This marks a clear departure from how those same members viewed former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision earlier this month to put a short-term spending bill on the floor, which ultimately led to his ouster. President Joe Biden spoke with newly minted Speaker Mike Johnson to congratulate him on his win, the White House said. GOP Rep. Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma is considering a run for conference vice chair – the leadership role previously occupied by now-Speaker Mike Johnson, according to her spokesperson. “I’m a lawyer, not a baker, so I don’t get too emotional about the presentation of arguments and how we ought to consider things.

DeSantis, Trump meet to make peace, plan fundraising

Jordan, the current GOP nominee for speaker, and McCarthy had initially spoken up in favor of the idea during the closed-door meeting. Gaetz also addressed reports that McCarthy had yelled at him during a House GOP conference meeting earlier today and that Illinois Rep. Mike Bost then cursed at him. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan left a meeting Thursday with some of his Republican colleagues who remain opposed to his speakership bid, telling CNN, "We had a good discussion." One attendee told CNN that the purpose of the meeting was to make it crystal clear that “it’s over" and that Jordan should now know he has no path to become speaker. They cast their ballots for McCarthy, Majority Leader Steve Scalise — who had been the party’s first nominee to replace McCarthy — and others, one vote even going to the retired Boehner. Jordan had relied on backing from Trump, the party’s frontrunner in the 2024 election to challenge President Joe Biden, and groups pressuring rank-and-file lawmakers for the vote, but it was not enough.

McHenry tamps down talk of resolution giving him broader powers

Then he went further, moving the day from protest toward the absurd in formally nominating the former president to be House speaker on the 11th ballot. “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. 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.

Calmes: That scowl. The gag order. Frightened jurors. Who’s on trial, a former president or a mob boss?

Johnson temporarily dodges ouster vote as House passes foreign aid - POLITICO

Johnson temporarily dodges ouster vote as House passes foreign aid.

Posted: Sat, 20 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed to pass a major foreign aid package over the objections of hardline conservatives. “People are frustrated … They want us to unite, they want us to come together, but you’ve got to unite for purpose. And that purpose can’t be to continue to do the same old thing,” Roy told reporters outside the Capitol on Monday night. “I don’t think it’s gonna come up,” Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), a frequent critic of GOP leadership, said Monday. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of just two other supporters of Greene’s vacate motion, said he spoke with Greene about the resolution over the break. But he’s also keeping his cards close to the vest, declining to disclose any details about when — or even if — the motion will come to the floor.

Jordan is defeated again for speaker as the Republican stalemate deepens.

It is highly improbable that any Republicans would defect and vote for Mr. Jeffries, handing the speaker’s gavel to the leader of the opposing party. That would be viewed as political treason by Republican lawmakers and voters alike. Many House aides believe that Mr. McHenry’s power is strictly confined to presiding over the election of a new speaker, as he has been doing this week. But because this situation hasn’t come up before, some congressional scholars argue that the bounds of the acting speaker’s power are largely dependent on what a majority of members is willing to tolerate. But because this situation has not come up before, some congressional scholars argue that the bounds of the acting speaker’s power are largely dependent on what a majority of members are willing to authorize.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers floated an extraordinary plan — to give the interim speaker-pro-tempore, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., more power to reopen the immobilized House and temporarily conduct routine business. WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Jim Jordan failed again Wednesday on a crucial second ballot to become House speaker, the hard-fighting ally of Donald Trump losing even more GOP colleagues who are refusing to give him the gavel. Several GOP lawmakers, as well as one member’s spouse, have reported a barrage of calls and messages pushing them to back Jordan, R-Ohio, in his struggling candidacy. An aggressive campaign by Jordan's supporters is sparking backlash from Republican holdouts, making it harder for him to become the next House speaker. Legislative activity has ground to a halt in the House without an elected speaker.

House remains without leader as Jordan fails a second time to win speaker gavel

The vote by John James of Michigan was for Candice Miller, a former House member from Michigan who now serves in local office. She got in trouble with the Ethics Committee over pressuring a fellow member on the Medicare prescription drug vote. No sign of movement from the bloc of New York Republicans who have opposed Jordan.

Jordan is now meeting with key chairmen and top Republicans in House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s office as they try to lean on holdouts and make offers to win their support. Jordan said the expected return of Florida Rep. Gus Bilirakis, a Jordan supporter who missed the first vote to be at his mother-in-law’s funeral, should help him and insisted they are chipping away at the holdouts. With Republicans having trouble settling on a speaker, Mr. Jeffries has pitched a coalition government that he describes as an “enlightened arrangement.” But the idea is a long shot. Earlier this week he said “informal conversations” had occurred but did not share details. Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio lost a bid to become speaker on Tuesday after 20 Republicans refused to back him, prolonging a two-week fight that has paralyzed the chamber and underscored the deep Republican divisions in the House. Ms. Esch and her husband, Mike, 57 were both hopeful that Mr. Jordan would drum up the votes needed to take the speaker role on Wednesday.

Next House speaker vote scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow as bid to empower McHenry fails

In the second ballot, Jordan lost more ground than he gained, winning 199 votes, compared to the 200 he won on the first ballot. In a press conference Friday morning, two hours before the third ballot for speaker, Jordan said the House needs to be open to "get to work for the American people." The Ohio Republican signaled he is not dropping out of the race. Jordan, who has been dubbed an election denier by some of his Republican House colleagues, again cast doubt on the results of the 2020 presidential election during his press conference Friday morning. The latter approach has not been successful so far, and there are no signs that his holdouts would be willing to come to his side.

Once a formality in Congress, the vote for House speaker has devolved into another bitter GOP showdown for the gavel. "He simply doesn’t have the votes — we need to have a frank discussion as a conference about a path forward. If as a conference we see he can’t get the necessary votes to become Speaker, General Bergman is prepared to step up. Jordan, who lost two rounds of votes, will continue to run for speaker and try to shore up votes in the meantime, according to the three sources. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said he will do everything possible to stop empowering McHenry as a temporary speaker, calling it a "constitutional desecration" not to elect a permanent speaker. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, revealed the death threats in a statement just hours after Jordan failed to secure enough votes in the second round of balloting for House speaker.

It was a notably different posture than the one McCarthy took toward Scalise, his former top deputy who has long been seen as his potential rival. McCarthy did not give a speech after Scalise secured his party nomination on Wednesday, sources said. Jeffries also said that conversations between senior Democrats and Republicans have “accelerated” in recent days and that it’s his hope they will continue to do so tonight. A son of civil servants who cut his teeth as a litigator at a white-shoe law firm and at CBS, Mr. Jeffries rose swiftly through the ranks of Democratic politics in New York and then Washington. Since 2013, he has represented some of the nation’s iconic Black neighborhoods in Brooklyn.