Table Of Content
- More From the Los Angeles Times
- Who is Mike Johnson? Five things to know about the new Republican House speaker
- Cal Poly Humboldt campus to remain closed through weekend as protesters occupy buildings
- Hamas is reviewing an Israeli proposal for a cease-fire …
- presidential election
- Editorial: Speaker Mike Johnson’s Ukraine aid bill is better late than never
The chairman of the Appropriations Committee was nominated by the party conference but withdrew after a magazine story accused him of marital infidelity. 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.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Some three-fourths of the 146 Republicans who opposed certifying the election cited it as the rationale for their vote. That narrow, technical, and questionable argument was predicated on Johnson’s assertion that, by authorizing changes to early voting and mail-in voting procedures without consulting their state legislators, state election officials had violated the Constitution. He huddled with top national security officials, including William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, in the Oval Office to discuss classified intelligence. He met repeatedly with broad factions of Republicans in both swing and deep red districts, and considered their voters’ attitudes toward funding Ukraine. Johnson's visit to the campus further elevates the issue, and marks the latest in a series of visits from lawmakers this week. Every Republican member of New York's congressional delegation has called for Columbia's president to resign.
Who is Mike Johnson? Five things to know about the new Republican House speaker
Inside Dems' thinking on saving Mike Johnson from an ouster vote - POLITICO - POLITICO
Inside Dems' thinking on saving Mike Johnson from an ouster vote - POLITICO.
Posted: Wed, 24 Apr 2024 09:00:00 GMT [source]
“We just can’t allow this kind of hatred and any antisemitism to flourish on our campuses, and it must be stopped in its tracks,” he said. The shift from Democrats is noteworthy given their lockstep support of the motion to vacate that led to the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in October, which ultimately resulted in Johnson’s getting the gavel. Members tried to remove speakers in previous congressional terms, but no motion ever reached the floor for a vote. If the motion is brought to the floor, the three Republican votes supporting it could be enough for passage if they are joined by all Democrats in the chamber.
Cal Poly Humboldt campus to remain closed through weekend as protesters occupy buildings
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. Democrats were scathing in their assessment of Mr. Johnson’s ascent to the speakership.
Hamas is reviewing an Israeli proposal for a cease-fire …
McHenry served in the role for three weeks as Republicans nominated and toppled three candidates until they were finally able to rally enough support around Johnson. The first person on that list would be named speaker pro tempore and their first order of business would be to hold an election for a new speaker. That event requires the House to vote as many times as it takes for a candidate to receive the majority of those present and voting for speaker. It remains unclear what support Greene’s resolution would have if she called it up for a vote. Some of her colleagues, who voted to oust McCarthy, threw cold water on the idea, saying they were not ready to support a motion to vacate Johnson. The No. 2 Republican at the time did not have the votes, and the No. 3 declined to run.
Last year, he introduced legislation that would have banned federally funded institutions from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity. The Texas lawsuit received stiff backlash not only from Democrats but also legal experts, who deemed it meritless and shallow. There’s a strong desire among Republicans to show a functioning House after being paralyzed for weeks following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. But the same members are warning they do believe Johnson starts in a more solid place with conservatives than McCarthy did. The glimmer of consensus came only hours after Mr. Emmer’s abrupt exit made him the third Republican this month to be chosen to lead the party, only to have his bid collapse in a seemingly endless cycle of G.O.P. grievances, personality conflicts and ideological rifts. Mr. Johnson’s hallmark in Congress has been combining his hard-line views with a gentle personal style.
presidential election
The upshot is that Democrats are empowered like no House minority in memory. Republicans can pass all the red-meat bills for the MAGA base they want, like punitive measures on immigration or transgender issues, but the bills will die in the Senate. However, Democrats are in control when it comes to bills that must become law, such as on annual spending and debt increases, or should become law, such as aid to Ukraine. So lately, under Johnson, they have all but forfeited key powers and in effect shared governance with Democrats, whose votes are what keep the place running. The speaker of the House, under the rules of the chamber, is required to keep a list of individuals who can act as speaker pro tempore in the event a chair is vacated.
The well-respected No. 2 Republican, Eric Cantor of Virginia, had lost his primary in 2014. 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.
Editorial: Speaker Mike Johnson’s Ukraine aid bill is better late than never
He said he feels safe on campus but understands why others do not and that his roommate booked a last-minute flight home over safety concerns. House Republicans who visited Columbia with the speaker made clear they would follow through with punishing colleges and universities if the protests are not controlled. But now Democrats, fed up with the dysfunction, are willing to disarm the extremists. And now that Johnson has finally let Congress approve Biden’s request for aid to a desperate Ukraine (as well as Israel, Gaza and Taiwan), Democrats are poised to provide the votes to prevent his defenestration.
In the years before he arrived in Congress in 2017, Mr. Johnson worked as an attorney and spokesman for the anti-abortion-rights and anti-gay group Alliance Defense Fund — now called the Alliance Defending Freedom. During that time, he expressed some of his hard-line views in editorials in the local newspaper in his hometown of Shreveport, La. He also opposed legislation to mandate federal recognition for same-sex marriages — a bill that passed with strong bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate. The views are sharply at odds with those of most Americans, according to opinion polls that have found the public is broadly supportive of gay rights. 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. “Experts project that homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic,” he wrote in one such article in 2004.
Says “he is the reason we are in this majority today,” a nod to his political skills. After the leak of the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion in May of last year, the Johnsons hosted an episode that explored the “future of life in America,” while also sharing their personal jubilation about the news of the pending decision. Elected to Congress in 2016, Mr. Johnson is the most junior lawmaker in decades to become speaker. Evoking his evangelical Christian faith, Mr. Johnson repeatedly referred to scripture in his speech from the House floor. Rebecca is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the House.
Campus police announced earlier that anyone who stayed in the area would be subject to criminal trespass laws. The Los Angeles Police Department arrested approximately 50 protestors at the University of Southern California after campus police gave a dispersal order to demonstrators, according to a CNN crew at the scene. CT, 34 arrests have been made by law enforcement on the UT Austin campus, according to an X post from the Texas Department of Public Safety. The board said it is "urgently working" with Shafik to resolve the unrest on campus and "rebuild the bonds of our community." The Columbia University Board of Trustees released a statement Wednesday saying they strongly support President Minouche Shafik, who has faced calls for her resignation amid intense pressure to rein in days-long protests.
And the hard-right Republicans who voted to oust Mr. McCarthy, setting into motion the three-week stretch of chaos that left the House without a leader, said Mr. Johnson’s ascension to the top job made their decision to depose the California Republican worth it. Johnson has served as a member of the House committees on the judiciary (including chairing a subcommittee on the Constitution and serving as a member of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government), armed services, and natural resources. His rise through the ranks of the Republican Party also has included service as House Republican conference vice chair and chair of the Republican Study Committee, the large conservative caucus of House Republicans. To become speaker last year, Kevin McCarthy agreed to a change in the rules that makes it possible for a single representative to move to “vacate the chair” — that is, trigger a vote on whether to depose the speaker. That’s what happened last year after McCarthy avoided a default on the national debt, kept the government open and committed other alleged outrages. Only by continuing this unorthodox bipartisanship will the House be able to, for example, fund the government for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 and avoid a pre-election shutdown.
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