Republican Mike Johnson is the new speaker of the House, but the Donald Trump ally inherits many of the same political problems that have tormented past GOP leaders, tested their grasp of the gavel and eventually chased them from office.
The House convened Thursday with a bustle of activity, making up for lost time during the weeks of chaos since Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker. But the initial goodwill toward Johnson blurs the political fault lines challenging the Louisianan’s ability to lead the GOP majority as it faces daunting issues ahead.
In early tests, Johnson headed to the White House for a classified briefing and said earlier in the day that “prayer is appropriate” as a response to the mass shootings in Maine.
“This is a dark time in America,” Johnson said at the Capitol on his first full day as speaker.
“We’re really, really hopeful and prayerful,” he said about the Maine shootings. “Prayer is appropriate at a time like this, that the evil can end and the senseless violence can stop.”
Johnson, a staunchly conservative evangelical Christian, declined to take any questions, including about the possibility of any gun violence legislation from Congress.
There are more challenges coming.
By Nov. 17, the Congress must fund the government again or risk a federal shutdown. President Joe Biden wants nearly $106 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Israel and Ukraine. And Republicans are eager to resume their impeachment inquiry into Biden over his son Hunter’s business dealings.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said he congratulated Johnson after his election and they planned to speak Thursday about “the urgent need to support the Ukrainian people.”
“Enough of the chaos, enough of the dysfunction,” Jeffries said, adding that it was time for Congress to get back to business.
Jeffries said Democrats were “heartbroken” over the latest shootings and stand with the people of Maine in every way possible, including discussing how Congress can address gun violence.
Johnson and other House leaders were going to the White House for a classified briefing in the Situation Room on the administration’s emergency funding request for Ukraine and Israel, according to people familiar with the meeting who were not authorized to publicly discuss the private session and spoke on condition of anonymity .
The White House has conducted similar briefings in recent weeks, but this would be the first time that the new speaker, who opposes the aid to Ukraine, would get a close airing from White House officials about Biden’s case for the money.
Biden had called Johnson to congratulate him after his election Wednesday and said it was “time for all of us to act responsibly” to fund the government and provide that foreign aid. “We need to move swiftly,” the president said in a statement.
Johnson, 51, swept through on the first ballot with support from all Republicans anxious to put weeks of tumult behind and get on with the business of governing. He was quickly sworn as speaker and is now second in line to the presidency, after the vice president.
A lower-ranked member of the House GOP leadership team, Johnson emerged as the fourth Republican nominee in what had become an almost absurd cycle of political infighting since McCarthy’s removal as party factions jockeyed for power.
While not the Republicans’ top choice, Johnson had few foes and an important backer in Donald Trump.
“He’s a tremendous leader,” Trump said Wednesday at the New York courthouse where the former president, he Republican front-runner for president in 2024, is on trial over a lawsuit alleging business fraud.
Johnson also had a call with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who told Johnson that a bipartisan agreement with Democrats is the only way to avoid a shutdown.
Meantime, Johnson sat down with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who told reporters afterward that he had a “very good” meeting with the new speaker.
Johnson, who has been in office less than a decade, drew together fellow Republicans through his faith, conservative roots and Trump’s nod after more seasoned leaders had failed. Far-right members in the House had refused to accept a more traditional speaker, and moderate conservatives did not want a hard-liner.
“You watch and see how much this House of Representatives can actually get done under Mike Johnson,” said Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led the eight hard-liners in ousting McCarthy.
Democrats said Johnson, a lawyer specializing in constitutional issues, was an extreme conservative, a strict opponent of abortion access and an architect of Trump’s legal effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election he lost to Democrat Biden.
“Republicans have chosen a MAGA acolyte to push an extreme agenda in the House at the expense of middle-class families,” said Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene, the chair of the Democrats’ campaign committee, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
After Johnson’s election, lawmakers quickly reconvened and approved a resolution Wednesday saying the House “stands with Israel” and “condemns Hamas’ brutal war.” They next turned to a stalled government funding bill.
Rather than take a scheduled work period at home, Republicans rearranged the House calendar to return to Washington next week and keep pushing through the various government funding bills before the Nov. 17 deadline.
In a letter to colleagues, Johnson outlined priorities that include providing a short-term funding bill, into next year, to prevent a November shutdown — almost the same move that led to McCarthy’s ouster.
While Johnson has spoken of the importance of helping fund Israel in the fight against Hamas, he has shown little interest in providing more money for Ukraine as it battles Russia.
Most Republicans voted against the budget deal McCarthy struck with Biden earlier this year, demanding steeper spending cuts. Johnson will need to navigate the far-right demands with the realities of keeping the government functioning.
Similar Republican infighting chased three other GOP speakers — John Boehner of Ohio, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Newt Gingrich of Georgia — to early departures. The difference now is that Republican rules allow any single lawmaker to force a vote to remove the speaker from office, the threat that ultimately toppled McCarthy.
