Republican Mike Johnson defended his position as speaker of the US House of Representatives after an unusually long vote, in which he initially did not get enough support but finally succeeded after two of his party colleagues changed their votes.
Thus, the development from the beginning of 2023, when the election of the president stretched over several rounds, was not repeated. In the end, Johnson won the votes of all but one member of the narrow Republican majority.
In the end, Johnson managed to consolidate an extremely narrow Republican majority of 219 votes to 215 Democratic seats. During the first round of the election, everything indicated that the congressman from Louisiana would not reach the necessary 218 votes, when three party colleagues refused to support him. Some American media have already reported on the expected second round of the election.
But the result was not immediately confirmed, and after a few minutes Johnson walked away from the meeting hall with two Republicans who did not vote for him. After a while, the group returned and a couple of earlier opponents took the opportunity to change their votes in favor of Johnson. In the end, he won the support of all members of the narrow Republican majority, except for the libertarian Thomas Massie.
Thus, nothing similar to the development at the beginning of the last term, when the Republicans elected their leader Kevin McCarthy as head of the House for the 15th attempt, was repeated. But Friday’s vote again revealed lingering disagreements among Republican lawmakers, particularly over government spending and the U.S. debt.
Johnson, like McCarthy, faces criticism from some Republicans because of the compromises he was forced to make with Democrats because of the congressional math so far. Many of those who did not make their opinion known before Friday’s vote, however, eventually supported it. Incoming Republican President Donald Trump reiterated his support for Johnson shortly before the vote.
Although he defended the position, it certainly does not mean the end of difficult challenges for him, The Washington Post pointed out. Republicans want to push through a series of major measures, including anti-immigration plans, in the first months of Trump’s new mandate, while disagreements over the state’s economy could quickly flare up again. All the more so since they will also have to prepare a new budget and increase the legal limit on government debt, which the US would otherwise encounter around the middle of the year.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
