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

Table Of Content

• Luna reverses on support of Scalise
• There's been a history of hard landings
• Here's what happened Friday in the House speaker saga — and what is expected to occur next
• Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar nominates Hakeem Jeffries for House speaker
• Representatives
• Santos praises Scalise upon withdrawal from race, a reversal from earlier comments

Kevin McCarthy’s seven-year-plus dream to become House speaker finally became reality early Saturday morning. The California Republican’s tumultuous journey concluded after six Republican holdouts voted “present,” allowing him to win on the 15th ballot with a lower majority threshold. During the speaker battle, Trump proved more adept at hurting candidates than helping them win — his early endorsee, Jordan, flamed out on the floor. But Johnson's ability to avoid Trump's ire cleared a hurdle for him within the House GOP, which is attuned to the wishes of the "MAGA" base. Critics have dubbed it a federal "don't say gay" measure and argued that it's aimed at barring references to LGBTQ people. He voted this year in favor of the debt limit law negotiated by McCarthy and Biden.

Luna reverses on support of Scalise

This is Washington Edition, the newsletter about money, power and politics in the nation’s capital. Today, congressional correspondents Billy House and Erik Wasson look at where things stand with the ouster threat facing House Speaker Mike Johnson. The list of the 10 speakers who served in the job longest includes just one Republican (and in the ninth slot at that).

GOP's Jordan says he's still running for House gavel, but plan for a temporary speaker falls flat - The Associated Press

GOP's Jordan says he's still running for House gavel, but plan for a temporary speaker falls flat.

Posted: Thu, 19 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

There's been a history of hard landings

After emerging from the leadership vacuum, Speaker Johnson said Congress must win back Americans’ faith. Jordan was nominated for the speakership by several conservative hard-liners over multiple rounds of voting last week, but the Ohio Republican maintained his support for McCarthy. Rogers had to be restrained from Gaetz after the Florida Republican failed to support Kevin McCarthy for speaker during the 14th ballot of the dayslong process. Gaetz later voted "present" on the 15th ballot, along with five other Republican holdouts, which lowered the majority threshold for McCarthy to win the speaker's gavel. Rep. Mike Johnson, a key figure in failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election, seems to have enough votes to secure the gavel after weeks of GOP infighting left the House in chaos.

Here's what happened Friday in the House speaker saga — and what is expected to occur next

Will House Speaker Johnson survive the threat to oust him from the job? - PBS

Will House Speaker Johnson survive the threat to oust him from the job?.

Posted: Fri, 22 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

"We'll be talking about the support and what's necessary to get it. We have to ensure that Vladimir Putin is not successful and I think all the House Republicans are united in that cause," he told reporters, despite opposition from many Republicans to more aid for Ukraine. "We'll be talking about how that's going to be done here in the coming days and it's a top priority." Johnson sent a letter to his colleagues on Monday laying out a tentative schedule for how he would approach the next several months' worth of House business.

Shortly after 1 p.m., the House began voting for speaker, with Johnson as the Republican nominee and Jeffries as the Democratic nominee. He was the first candidate since McCarthy's ouster to face no opposition from his own party. Before the vote in the House, Johnson said he had not spoken to the president, but said he assumed he would soon. Asked if he was worried Johnson might attempt to overturn the results of the 2024 election, Mr. Biden said he wasn't.

Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar nominates Hakeem Jeffries for House speaker

The meeting of House Republicans has not yet ended, and most of the members remain behind closed doors — where they may be deciding what to do next. So McHenry will have to go back to the floor at some point to adjourn until a specific time. In a post on X, embattled Rep. George Santos wrote, "I applaud Congressman Steve Scalise for his diligence and hard work." That is a reversal from his comments last night declaring himself to be "an ANYONE but Scalise" voter.

After the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in June last year, he celebrated. Mr. Johnson said Mr. Jordan called him when he was running for office, because “he knew I was a conservative,” contributed money to his campaign and invited him to Washington for a meeting with him and other Freedom Caucus members. The election on Wednesday of Mr. Johnson, 51, to the post second in line to the presidency has focused new attention on his behind-the-scenes role in trying to overturn the election results on behalf of former President Donald J. Trump. We’re seeing a little bit of that here, with his gracious words toward Jeffries, promising to work together and find common ground. “We went through a lot to get here, but we are ready to govern and that will begin right away,” Johnson says in his first news conference as speaker. 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.

Office of Congressional Ethics

Mr. Johnson immediately faces a host of challenges that dogged his predecessor, Mr. McCarthy. 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. In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with CNN ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy outlined his plans for power.

"The people's House is back in business," Johnson told colleagues before being sworn in. But the same members are warning they do believe Johnson starts in a more solid place with conservatives than McCarthy did.

House conservatives are signaling they’ll give the newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson some runway and flexibility as the House barrels toward a November 17 spending deadline to fund the government. In the 2006 midterm elections, the Democratic Party regained control of the House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Albert's successor, Democrat Tip O'Neill, was a prominent speaker because of his public opposition to the policies of President Ronald Reagan.

The chamber could convene to hold a vote to elect a speaker today — or take days trying to wrangle the votes. And the House, where the GOP holds a slim majority, has paused proceedings as he doesn't yet have the votes to get to 217. Republicans are eager to avoid the drawn-out floor fight that happened earlier this year when it took McCarthy 15 ballots to be elected speaker. McCarthy, who was recently ousted as speaker, cast doubt on Scalise's efforts to gather the votes needed to win the speakership. "I just shared with my colleagues that I’m withdrawing my name as candidate for the speaker designee," he said.

At the same time, they need to be working to make sure their members aren’t getting dinged as party hacks. Still, with every moment of sober responsibility, he’s endangering the vocal minority of his slim majority who want to be seen as arsonists. Privately, the fringe adults in his caucus are appreciative of the level-headed approach.

Mr. Johnson’s abrupt rise to the speaker post this week in the depressed and divided House Republican conference underscores the rightward lurch of the G.O.P., which dumped his more mainstream predecessor, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California. After a mob of Mr. Trump’s supporters, believing the election was rigged, stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and injured about 150 police officers, Mr. Johnson condemned the violence. But he defended the actions of congressional Republicans in objecting to Mr. Biden’s victory. No credible evidence has ever emerged to support the conspiracy theories about Dominion and another voting machine firm having helped to ensure Mr. Trump’s defeat.