The lower house of the newly formed American Congress, the House of Representatives, elected its president in the person of Republican representative Mike Johnson in the first round on Friday.
In the roll-call voting that began at noon local time, the candidate of the Republicans with a narrow majority, Mike Johnson, known as a supporter of Donald Trump, received the necessary majority when two members of his party changed their positions. Mike Johnson, who also served as speaker in the second half of the previous legislative cycle, received 218 votes at the close of voting, while Democratic Caucus Leader Hakeem Jefrries received 215, matching the number of Democratic representatives.
The election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is decisive from the point of view of the presidential takeover, as the legislature must certify the results of the November presidential election on January 6, which it would not have been able to do in the absence of an elected Speaker. The certification of the results of the presidential election is a prerequisite for the president-elect, Donald Trump, to take his oath of office on January 20. The members of the House of Representatives, as well as a third of the members of the upper house, the Senate, were elected on November 5, at the same time as the presidential election.
Before the first round of the presidential election, Donald Trump assured the candidacy of Mike Johnson of his firm support.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky has indicated in advance that he is in no way willing to support the re-election of Mike Johnson, while other representatives expressed their reservations, but did not clearly reject their party’s candidate.
Shortly before the first round of voting, Mike Johnson published a list of several points with his commitments to his fellow Republican representatives. The conservative group of Republicans faced criticism for supporting the transition budget law in mid-December as speaker of the previous Congress without including a provision for the national debt brake. After his election, he asked his fellow politicians to observe a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 1. Among his political goals, he mentioned that the Republican Congress should support Donald Trump’s presidential program, among other things, in reducing taxes, improving living conditions and increasing American energy production. The election of the Speaker was followed by the oath of office of the representatives.
The new members of the Senate, the upper house of Congress, also took their oath of office on Friday.
As a result of the November 5 election in the US Congress, a Republican majority was formed in both houses. The majority in the House of Representatives is 220-215, but at the same time, Donald Trump has nominated several of the elected Republican representatives for his administration, and interim elections must be held to replace them, which affects the balance of power. In the Senate, Republicans won a 53-47 majority, after Democrats held the majority the previous two years.
Source: nepszava.hu
