U S. House leadership elections, 2023

Table Of Content

• October 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election
• How the House of Representatives elects a speaker
• Some of the Republicans who supported 2020 election lies have led the charge against Kevin McCarthy.
• Ambition keeps him loyal to Donald Trump. But what does Kevin McCarthy stand for?
• GOP Rep. Bice considering running for Johnson's former leadership role
• Feds say he masterminded an epic California water heist. Some farmers say he’s their Robin Hood

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. In a letter to colleagues earlier Wednesday, Johnson outlined his first priority will be trying to pass the remaining spending bills that have so far languished in the House one by one. But Johnson indicated that given the time constraints, if those bills can’t pass quickly, he’d look to fund to government using what is known as a short-term spending bill or continuing resolution that would run either through January 15 or April 15, whichever the conference supports. The House is now voting to pass a resolution in support of Israel in the war against Hamas – the first measure to come to the floor to be passed after Speaker Mike Johnson was elected this morning following three weeks of a speakerless-House. The House passed a resolution in support of Israel in the war against Hamas – the first measure to come to the floor after Speaker Mike Johnson was elected earlier Wednesday following three weeks without a speaker.

October 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election

“The motion to vacate is accountability,” he added, referring to the measure allowing a snap vote to remove the speaker. “What we’re seeing is the incredibly shrinking speakership, and that’s most unfortunate for Congress,” former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said as she entered the chamber on Friday afternoon. Despite the divisions on display, Mr. McCarthy also emphasized the theme of unity in a speech after taking the speaker’s gavel, pledging open debate and an open door to both Republicans and Democrats. After a spectacle of arm-twisting on the House floor, Kevin McCarthy won over just enough of the far-right rebels he needed to become speaker. He swore in the chamber’s members, ending days of paralysis at the start of Republican rule.

How the House of Representatives elects a speaker

“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." Evoking his evangelical Christian faith, Mr. Johnson repeatedly referred to scripture in his speech from the House floor. Hakeem Jeffries made history as the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress, addressing the 118th Congress for the first time in the early hours of Saturday morning. There will also be some must-pass policy issues — like funding the government — that will test the ability of Republicans and Democrats to work together. "This is not a dictatorship where one person gets to decide everything for the entire conference. ... So we saw it play out just as it should," De La Cruz told CNN's Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday.

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

These are the House Republicans running for speaker - CNN

These are the House Republicans running for speaker.

Posted: Sun, 22 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

An earlier version of this article misstated the number of votes Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana received in House Republicans’ internal election to choose a speaker nominee. Any candidate for speaker can lose only a handful of votes and still win the speakership because Republicans hold such a small majority in the House. In a secret-ballot vote on Tuesday night, Mr. Johnson got 128 votes, with 44 Republicans voting for nominees not on the ballot, including 43 for Mr. McCarthy, whom many view as unfairly ousted. Still, in a separate vote afterward, only a few Republicans indicated they would not back Mr. Johnson on the floor, while about 20 Republicans were absent. In the end, it was Mr. Johnson who was able to bring together both the party’s hard-right and mainstream flanks that had taken turns sinking speaker candidates.

Ambition keeps him loyal to Donald Trump. But what does Kevin McCarthy stand for?

Asked if he would bring a vote to oust Johnson if he put forth a short-term spending bill at current spending levels, Rep. Matt Gaetz said he’s optimistic Johnson will be able to actually pass the individual spending bills. After three weeks without a speaker, the House voted Wednesday to elect Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. 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. On Wednesday, Mr. Johnson was toiling to help Republicans turn the page from the chaos of the past few weeks. He said there would be none of the typical celebrations that accompany the election of a new speaker. Mr. Johnson was only able to emerge as his party’s nominee for speaker this week after three other G.O.P. nominees before him were unable to rally enough support.

The House is staring down a deadline of Nov. 17, when current government funding expires. In his blueprint for the next few months, Johnson said a stopgap measure extending funding until January or April may be needed to approve more spending and avoid a shutdown. Washington — Rep. Mike Johnson, a Republican of Louisiana, won election as the new speaker of the House on Wednesday, ending three weeks of chaos since Rep. Kevin McCarthy's historic ouster. The White House and congressional Democrats had urged Speaker Mike Johnson to hold a vote on that Senate package in the wake of Iran's recent unprecedented attack on Israel, and amid briefings that Ukraine is in dire need of U.S. aid. In a statement Saturday, President Biden thanked lawmakers for coming together to pass the funding for U.S. allies that he has been pushing for months. 7921 establishes a National Coordinator in the White House to oversee a new Interagency Task Force to Counter Antisemitism focused on combating domestic antisemitism and ensuring coordination among the federal agencies in fighting this terrible hatred.

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. 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. Mr. Johnson has 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 he will have to navigate in the coming days. Mr. Johnson immediately faces a host of challenges that dogged his predecessor, Mr. McCarthy.

"I don't defend the performance of the speaker, I don't defend the actions that have been taken," Good told reporters after the Friday vote. "However, that doesn't mean that I support what I would consider to be not the most prudent action right now. We're six months before an election, we have a two-three vote margin." There were four ballots on the House floor and four Republican nominees successively selected by the GOP conference over a three-week period. Here's more on the new speaker and the full list of Republicans who sought the speakership over the last three weeks. Roy was one of the lead co-sponsors of a rules change for the Republican conference that would have required the nominee for speaker to get the number of votes required to win outright on the floor.

January 2023: Regular speaker election

He is confronting a mid-November deadline to pass a measure to fund the government to avert a shutdown. And he will need to lead a conference deeply divided over foreign policy as Congress considers the Biden administration’s $105 billion funding request for Israel, Ukraine and the southern border. The vote put him second in line to the presidency, capping an extraordinary period of twists and turns on Capitol Hill. It marked a victory for the far right that has become a dominant force in the Republican Party, which rose up this month to effectively dictate the removal of an establishment speaker and the installation of an arch-conservative replacement. "I had more debate this week in Congress — more meaningful debate — more intermingling," Burchett told CNN's Jim Acosta Saturday, saying he was chatting with everyone from the prominent progressive lawmakers known as The Squad to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“I think the House is in a lot better place with some of the work that’s been done to democratize power out of the speakership, and that’s our goal,” he said. Left unmentioned was that many of the same rebels who helped lead the effort in Congress to overturn the 2020 election, giving rise to the assault that day, were also among the final holdouts working to block Mr. McCarthy’s ascent. The prolonged election prompted tension and uncertainty in the Capitol, where lawmakers in both parties had grown impatient and bored awaiting the outcome of a high-stakes struggle that seemed at once monumental and absurd. Representative Victoria Spartz of Indiana, who had voted “present” in previous ballots, also voted for Mr. McCarthy in the 12th vote.

"Today is the day that House Republicans will humbly look in our hearts and elect Mike Johnson as speaker of the People's House," she said. He accused GOP lawmakers of working to find a candidate for speaker who can pass their "extreme litmus test" opposing marriage equality, cutting Social Security and Medicare, and enacting nationwide restrictions on abortion. Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, chairman of the Democratic caucus, rose to nominate Jeffries for speaker and accused Republicans of manufacturing a crisis that has lasted 22 days. In a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House, President Biden welcomed news of Johnson's election. Johnson has laid out a tentative legislative schedule to approve new spending and take up other pieces of legislation, but things could change quickly as he confronts the realities of governing, especially given the fractious nature of the Republican conference.