Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson managed to regain the presidency of the House of Representatives this Friday by a narrow margin. In a much shorter session, but just as tense as the agonizing vote to elect Kevin McCarthy as president in 2023 speakerDonald Trump’s candidate has managed to achieve the necessary 218 votes thanks to the change in the direction of the vote of two wayward congressmen. Johnson’s narrow victory reaffirms Trump’s power over the party and once again confirms internal divisions.
The slim majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives, 220 seats out of 435, has made the few votes of the most radical wing of the party crucial. The group had already expressed its resounding no to Johnson’s election on several occasions due to its dissatisfaction with the way the speaker has handled spending bills, including last December’s budget battle. During that session, some Republican members of Congress rebelled against the interim spending agreement that Johnson agreed to with Democrats, claiming that it was too expensive and too extensive.
This is not the first time the group has wreaked havoc in the chamber and attempted to bring down Johnson. In the spring of last year, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene led an impeachment attempt against him for unblocking a vote on a crucial economic aid package for the war in Ukraine. Eleven Republicans voted in favor of his impeachment. On that occasion, Johnson saved his neck thanks to the support of the Democrats.
In this Friday’s vote it was the intervention of Trump himself, who saved the speaker. After voting against Johnson, Ralph Norman and Keith Self have received a call from the tycoon, according to what has been learned Politico. It was after hanging up that they changed the direction of their vote before the voting was finished.
The image of Trump on the other end of the phone confirms the Republican’s strength over legislators, even those who are wayward. Even so, the prospect of having to make calls and pulses every time you want to approve a new law is not very flattering for Trump. In addition, it remains to be seen whether during the rest of the legislature this strategy will be enough to unblock the votes.
Trump has long made clear his support for Johnson, who has managed to earn a place within the president-elect’s inner circle. In the morning, before the session began, Trump had already tried to pave the way for his champion with a message in Truth Social: “Good luck today to the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, an excellent man with great skills, who is very close to getting 100% support. A victory for Mike today will be a great victory for the Republican Party,” the Republican wrote.
Beyond his predilection for Johnson, Trump had made lawmakers aware of his interest in achieving a quick and easy vote to avoid a delay in the certification of the election results. Next Monday the session will take place to certify his victory, but if this Friday a president of the House of Representatives had not been appointed, Congress would have had to postpone the session until the new one was named. speaker.
Over the next few months, Republicans hope to pass a fiscal package, a border security bill and energy legislation, fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year and lift the debt ceiling. Johnson will have to manage the different ideological factions in a narrow majority, including the moderates worried about his re-election and the radical bench, specialized in generating chaos. Furthermore, the speaker He will also have to balance the designs of Trump and his followers, which do not necessarily coincide with the will of the congressmen.
The new president of the House of Representatives assures that he will create a working group made up of independent experts to work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Its goal is to “expose irresponsible or illegal practices and hold accountable federal agencies and individuals who have weaponized the government against the American people.” It will also seek to hold accountable those who have wasted funds.
Source: www.eldiario.es
