House speaker race highlights: Steve Scalise drops out and what happens next

Table Of Content

• Johnson sworn in as House speaker: "The people's House is back in business"
• Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nearly Tripled the S&P 500's Returns in 2023: Here Are the Stocks She's Been Buying
• 'No earthly idea': Republicans leave meeting at a loss
• Nancy Pelosi book, ‘The Art of Power,’ will reflect on her career in public life
• d Republican joins motion to oust Mike Johnson as House speaker
• Jordan mum on whether he'll launch another speaker bid

The speaker presides over debate, appoints members of select and conference committees, establishes the legislative agenda, maintains order within the House, and administers the oath of office to House members. The individual in this office is second in the line of presidential succession, following the vice president. On the other hand, when the speaker and the president belong to opposite parties, the public role and influence of the speaker tend to increase. As the highest-ranking member of the opposition party (and de facto leader of the opposition), the speaker is normally the chief public opponent of the president's agenda. In this scenario, the speaker is known for undercutting the president's agenda by blocking measures by the minority party or rejecting bills by the Senate. The speaker in the United States, by tradition, is the head of the majority party in the House of Representatives, outranking the majority leader.

Johnson sworn in as House speaker: "The people's House is back in business"

Scalise told reporters that House Republicans had a "very constructive two-and-a-half-hour long meeting" this afternoon, and now members will continue to speak in smaller groups. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, said the fight to name a speaker is so divisive that one Republican member said they didn't think "Lord Jesus himself" could get the 217 votes needed to win. “It doesn’t mean there’s not healthy conversations for us as a conference,” Cloud told reporters. In a note to House Democrats, Clark told members to plan on being present and voting and that a speaker vote is possible tomorrow. Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., predicted Jordan might have the same problem that Scalise faced — getting 217 votes on the House floor. Despite all the chaos, conservative Republicans say they have no concern that some in their party may team up with Democrats to elect a speaker.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nearly Tripled the S&P 500's Returns in 2023: Here Are the Stocks She's Been Buying

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. 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. With House Republicans’ majority, comes a newfound power to set the agenda — investigative and legislative.

'No earthly idea': Republicans leave meeting at a loss

He helped shape many bills, working quietly in the background with House committees. He also helped ensure the passage of several domestic measures and foreign assistance programs advocated by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman. But this time around several Democrats have indicated they would cross the aisle to support Johnson and frustrate Greene & Co. if it came to a vote. Democratic leaders have indicated they are open to this, and it essentially repeats the strategy that allowed Johnson to pass the Ukraine portion of the aid bill earlier this month. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — who was ousted from the speakership earlier this month — voted for speaker designee Mike Johnson, resulting in applause from fellow Republican members.

Nancy Pelosi book, ‘The Art of Power,’ will reflect on her career in public life

The fight is entirely one of Washington’s making, and only the insiders understand why Republicans can’t stifle internal dissent at a moment when Americans are looking at D.C. Information about travel-related expenses incurred by representatives who are reimbursed by non-government sources. Elected by their peers, certain representatives hold positions that combine institutional, administrative and partisan roles. Jordan also said Sunday that “we'll see tomorrow” what happens with the House rules package and how many moderate Republicans will come out against it but said he thinks the GOP will get the 218 votes needed to pass it.

d Republican joins motion to oust Mike Johnson as House speaker

Kevin McCarthy removed as House speaker in historic first - NPR

Kevin McCarthy removed as House speaker in historic first.

Posted: Tue, 03 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The speakership reached its apogee during the term of Republican Joseph Gurney Cannon (1903–1911). He determined the agenda of the House, appointed the members of all committees, chose committee chairmen, headed the Rules Committee, and determined which committee heard each bill. He vigorously used his powers to ensure that Republican proposals were passed by the House. Prior to the GOP's 40-year sentence as the minority party, several of its speakers had risen to the top rung largely on their personal popularity among their colleagues. One was Joseph Martin of Massachusetts, who led the party in the House during two brief interludes of majority status after World War II. Both lasted only the minimum two years, the first ending with Democratic Harry S. Truman's surprise White House win in 1948.

While the far-right Freedom Caucus seems to have made peace with that, some holdout conservatives are still demanding that number be cut to $1.47 trillion. That delta is one of the reasons some GOP lawmakers are starting to sour on Johnson. The House of Representatives has a new speaker after 22 days of leaderless, gridlocked chaos following the ouster of Kevin McCarthy. Mike Johnson of Louisiana won all 220 Republican votes cast on the House floor Wednesday.

Jordan mum on whether he'll launch another speaker bid

Walking out of Scalise’s office, Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, one of the Scalise holdouts, said he didn’t think Scalise had flipped any votes to the yes column. Steve Scalise has withdrawn from the speaker's race, he told Republicans in a closed-door meeting moments ago. Jordan's name has been floated as a possible replacement for Scalise, Rep. Dan Mauser of Pennsylvania said. He said the reaction to Jordan, who got 99 votes in the nomination vote yesterday before he dropped out of the running, was "positive."

Analysis: McCarthy speaker saga is only latest sign of Trump's weakened brand

Wednesday morning, hours before an expected vote, Trump, the de facto leader of the Republican Party, said he wasn't technically endorsing Johnson but suggesting the House elect him. He voted against bipartisan legislation to codify same-sex marriage, which Biden signed into law last year. Johnson has a spotless history of voting against legal abortion, earning an "A+" rating from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

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. The Senate and the White House are still controlled by Democrats and any spending bill passed will need Democratic support to become law and avert a shutdown.

Abortion rights proponents have noted his work from 2010 as a senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, citing a letter in which he fought to shut down an abortion clinic in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. On Tuesday night, after he was nominated, Johnson declined to respond to a question about his role in the election objections. He unified the fractious Republican Conference, winning votes from right-wing detractors of McCarthy, R-Calif., as well as centrist Republicans who opposed Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

As Johnson made his way from his House office to the floor, he told CBS News that he "feels very good" about the vote and believes he can secure the necessary 217 votes on the first round. If all 221 Republicans and 212 Democrats mark themselves present, Johnson will need 217 votes to win the gavel. Two seats are vacant due to the resignations of Reps. Chris Stewart, a Republican from Utah, and David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island. "House Democrats believe that when members of the body voted to reject the results of the 2020 election, they forfeited their ability to lead this chamber," Aguilar said. Johnson was sworn in as the 56th House speaker soon after winning the vote and delivering a speech to lawmakers in the House chamber.

The Senate passed its own version shortly after the House acted, and members from both chambers are now working to reconcile the two versions and craft a consensus bill. Johnson said lawmakers "have a duty to the American people to explain this to them so they understand it well, and we are going to establish a bipartisan debt commission to begin working on this crisis immediately." "Even though we have real disagreements about important issues, there should be mutual effort to find common ground wherever we can," the president said. The two men spoke on the phone Wednesday afternoon, according to the White House. Gaetz seemed receptive to Johnson's plan on Monday, calling it "quite attractive." The Florida Republican voted for Johnson in Wednesday's vote, along with all other Republican members.

But hours after Emmer won the nod in a closed-door vote by the conference Tuesday morning, the former president lambasted the Minnesota Republican, writing on Truth Social that "voting for a Globalist RINO like Tom Emmer would be a tragic mistake." The four absences mean Johnson will need 215 votes to win the speakership if all members in the chamber vote for a candidate. It’s been two months since a klatch of House Republicans forced the ouster of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy because, frankly, they didn’t like him.

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. Hastert was speaker through the last two Clinton years and first six of the George W. Bush presidency.

“I personally cannot, in good conscience, vote for someone who attended a white supremacist conference and compared himself to David Duke,” she said in an interview on CNN. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who had pledged her support for Jordan as speaker, said that she won’t support Scalise’s bid. "In the meantime, as we all know, the world is on fire. And we need to address these problems ... it's important that we get back to the business of running this country," he said. The Ohio congressman again said that he will not be running for the role, and Scalise is "where we need to go." The House is expected to adjourn tonight without a vote on speaker, according to a notice sent to all Democrats by Whip Clark. Scalise confirmed to reporters he was dropping his bid for speaker a day after his nomination.