House finally elects Mike Johnson, a hard-right conservative, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
After 21 days and four other nominees, the House Republicans have finally nominated a speaker with a 220-209 vote.
Representative Johnson of Louisiana was elected on Wednesday after weeks of in-house fighting and dysfunction within the Republican party. Johnson, 51, played a significant role in overturning the 2020 election. Additionally, being a religious conservative, his social views consist of being opposed to abortion rights, homosexuality, and gay marriage.
Speaking of his newly elected position, Mr.Johnson pledged to try and “'restore the people’s faith in this House.' He cited sending aid to Israel, fixing a 'broken' southern border, and reining in federal spending as his top legislative priorities." Furthermore, he spoke in religious terms frequently, repeating scripture in his speech on the floor:
“He raised up each of you, all of us. And I believe that God has ordained and allowed each one of us to be brought here for this specific moment.”
Speaker Johnson is the youngest representative to be elected to this position in decades, and perhaps the most conservative. He sponsored legislation that would bar the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity at any public institution that would serve children younger than 10. He also served on former President Trump's impeachment defense team, where he recruited other House Republicans to sign a legal brief supporting a lawsuit to overturn the 2020 results. After Johnson's election, Trump praised him as "a fantastic gentleman."
Assuming this role, Johnson immediately faces a slew of challenges. A mid-November deadline is approaching to pass a measure to fund the government to avert a shutdown. He also needs to lead a conference on the topic of foreign policy, as Congress considers the Biden administration's "$105 billion funding request for Israel, Ukraine, and the southern border." However, Mr. Johnson has opposed continued funding for the war in Ukraine, which has proven to be a contentious topic within the GOP.
Mainstream conservatives who voted in favor of Johnson hope his role will pull the House out of its lull. Almost immediately following his election, lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a resolution expressing solidarity with Israel and condemning Hamas.
I remember going to DC in the summer and watching a House session from the gallery. It's strange that I was watching representatives celebrate their states' "National Grape Day", to now having had immense chaos in that same chamber. Additionally, the picture above when I visited less than two months ago said "Speaker McCarthy"- that was changed quickly. I wonder if Speaker Johnson will thrive in his new position, or even last long- will he be under the "Republican Speaker Curse" as some news sources call it?
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/us/politics/house-republicans-speaker-vote-johnson.html
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4274682-where-gop-speaker-nominee-mike-johnson-stands-on-ukraine-israel/
7 comments:
I'm happy to hear that they have finally selected a new speaker of the house to get the House of Representatives functioning again. However, I'm worried that their choice will only increase the already detrimental polarization in the House, as shown by the threat of a government shutdown. The vote to me was very close, and I'm concerned that a hard-right speaker will not be able to lead bipartisan measures for both Democrats and Republicans. Of course, catching up on all of the legislation that has been stalled since early October would be a difficult task for any new speaker, but it might be additionally difficult if he has extreme viewpoints.
I find it interesting that mainstream conservatives believe Johnson will be able to stir the House to action. With such far right views, and considering that he was elected by a very close vote (was entirely along partisan lines), it seems unlikely that he'd be able to compromise with Democrats. I find it interesting that Johnson essentially got elected because he was unknown --- he hadn't interacted with other Republican representatives to supposedly make more than four enemies, the maximum amount of Republican votes that could be lost and still elect the House Speaker. This is a good example of political polarization: few if any Democrats are willing to support a Republican speaker, so the Republicans simply chose the person with the most support within their party, even if that person is very conservative. I don't think this kind of decision should be made solely based on partisan lines and policy differences; I think the speaker should be selected for their experience.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/28/how-mike-johnson-went-little-known-house-speaker-24-hours/
At first, I was excited about a new house speaker being elected, but after doing some research on his past sayings I can't help but feel a bit worried about the future. According to the New York Times, Johnson has some controversial views on climate change, not believing the science behind it and doubting evidence. Not only that, but he is also anti-LGBTQ+ and sponsored a bill that would prohibit funding for children's education that includes LGBTQ+ topics. He is anti-abortion and has some strong opinions on immigration and women in general. All his beliefs stem from his strong faith in Christianity, saying that Americans are "denying [the] existence of God himself". While having and believing in a religion is no issue, personally, it shouldn't be forced upon people who believe in something else. I sincerely hope that these views of his won't negatively impact the lives of people in the future.
source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/us/politics/mike-johnson-speaker-religion.html
While it is good to finally have decided on a new Speaker of the House, I am nervous that Mike Johnsons very extreme views may increase the polarization in the House. His viewpoints are very based on his religion, with things like being against abortion and gay marriage which will definitely cause difficulties with making agreements with the democrats on these issues. I am interested to see what he does with the many challenges he will face starting to late in the year, and I agree with Enya that many sources may say he is under the "Republican Speaker Curse" if he doesn't thrive.
The Democrats got a LOT of political points by siding with far right republicans and voting out McCarthy, leaving the Republican party in extreme disarray. That said, McCarthy was pretty open to bipartisan bills (relative to Mike Johnson and other Republican speaker nominees) so I'm not sure that voting out McCarthy was their best play. With Mike Johnson as speaker it will be much harder to advance their policy agenda.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/03/kevin-mccarthy-democrats-vote-speaker-house/
Johnson seems a lot more extreme than McCarthy, which is what some Republicans such as Matt Gaetz were looking for. Does anybody think the Democrats success in removing McCarthy backfired on them?
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