WASHINGTON (AP) — The brand new Congress convenes Friday with one main job at hand — the election of the Home speaker.
However present Speaker Mike Johnson’s weak grip on the gavel threatens not solely his personal survival however President-elect Donald Trump’s bold agenda of tax cuts and mass deportations as Republicans sweep to energy in Washington.
With opposition from his personal GOP colleagues, Johnson was holed up within the Capitol on the eve of the vote, working to sway the hardline holdouts. A flop by Johnson may throw Monday’s congressional certification of Trump’s 2024 election victory into turmoil with no Home speaker. Even backing from Trump himself, normally a positive wager for Republicans, is not any assure Johnson will keep in energy.
“I feel he’s banking loads on folks liking him,” stated Sarah Binder, a professor of political science at George Washington College.
“However you already know I feel we’re nonetheless all the way down to: What does he want to present away to be able to get the speakership? After which how lengthy can he hold it?”
What was as soon as a ceremonial day with newly-elected lawmakers arriving to be sworn into workplace, typically with household and pals in tow, has advanced right into a high-stakes vote for the workplace of Home speaker, among the many strongest elected positions in Washington.
Whereas the Senate is ready to convene by itself and has already elected occasion leaders — Sen. John Thune because the Republican majority chief and Sen. Chuck Schumer for the Democratic minority — the Home should first elect its speaker, a job required by the Structure, second within the line of succession to the president.
Congress has been right here earlier than, when it took Republicans practically per week and 15 rounds of voting to elect Kevin McCarthy as speaker in 2023, a spectacle unseen in trendy occasions. McCarthy was then dumped by his occasion, a historic first, however he was additionally a part of an extended listing of GOP audio system chased to early exits.
The stakes are larger this yr as Trump prepares to return to the White Home with the Home and Senate in GOP management and promising to ship massive on a 100-day agenda.
“He’s the one that may win proper now,” Trump stated about Johnson at a New 12 months’s Eve occasion that drew different GOP leaders to his Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida.
Trump endorsed Johnson but additionally stated “others are excellent, too,” a nod to “Make America Nice Once more” allies within the president-elect’s orbit.
Johnson, of Louisiana, has been working diligently to stop defeat, spending New 12 months’s Day at Mar-a-Lago as he positions himself alongside Trump. The speaker typically portrays himself because the “quarterback” who will likely be executing the political performs referred to as by the “coach,” the president-elect.
“We’ve got to remain unified,” Johnson stated on Fox Enterprise late Thursday.
Johnson stated he thinks he’ll lose maybe solely a single detractor, and hopes to win the speakership on the primary spherical of balloting. He stated he hasn’t but requested Trump to make calls to the holdouts. “My conversations with my colleagues are going nice.”
However Johnson additionally warned that with no Home speaker there can be a “constitutional disaster” heading into Jan. 6, when Congress by legislation is required to rely the electoral votes for president, weeks earlier than Trump is about to be inaugurated Jan. 20.
“We don’t have any time to waste, and I feel that everyone acknowledges that,” he stated.
Johnson instructions one of many slimmest majorities in trendy occasions, 220-215, having misplaced seats within the November election. That leaves him counting on nearly each Republican for help within the face of Democratic opposition.
Heading into Friday he didn’t have the total help wanted.
Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy is among the many most notable holdouts, an unflinching member of the Freedom Caucus who lashed into Republican management’s dealing with of the year-end spending invoice for failing to chop spending and cling to Home guidelines.
“One thing MUST change,” Roy posted on social media. He stated he stays undecided on the speaker’s vote for Johnson, however added “my need is to present him grace” in hopes they will ship on the GOP agenda.
One nearly sure onerous no is Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., however different far-right Republicans, together with some who helped topple McCarthy, have saved their views shut.
“There’s a number of discontent,” stated Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., as lawmakers left for the Christmas vacation.
What’s unclear is what different concessions Johnson could make to win help. Two years in the past, McCarthy handed out prime favors that appeared to solely weaken his maintain on energy.
Already, Johnson has clawed again a kind of modifications, with a brand new Home rule pushed by centrist conservatives that may require a minimum of 9 members of the bulk occasion on any decision to oust the speaker — elevating the edge McCarthy had lowered to only one.
“I feel the holdouts are going to have to understand that, pay attention, Trump is true on a regular basis,” stated Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, exiting the speaker’s workplace late Thursday. “Simply know that Trump is true on a regular basis, it’ll assist you decide actual easy.”
In some ways, Johnson has no selection however to endure political hazing by his colleagues, as they remind him who has leverage of their lopsided relationship. He was a last-ditch selection for the workplace, rising from the again bench as soon as different leaders failed within the aftermath of McCarthy’s ouster.
Democrats anticipated to solid votes for occasion chief Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
Jeffries has stated Democrats won’t assist save Johnson, as they’ve prior to now with their votes when he confronted a menace of removing.
The speaker’s election is about to dominate the opening of the brand new Congress, which additionally brings a roster of history-making members.
Within the Senate, two Black girls — Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland — will likely be sworn in, the primary time within the nation’s historical past two Black girls senators will serve on the identical time.
Sen.-elect Andy Kim of New Jersey is also making historical past as the primary Korean American to hitch the chamber.
Within the Home, Sarah McBride is the primary overtly transgender individual within the Congress.
And Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who not too long ago suffered a fall abroad and underwent hip alternative surgical procedure, will make her personal return to Washington, a reminder of the facility she wielded when Democrats final held the bulk.
However the pomp of the day might dim if the speakership election slogs into a number of rounds of balloting.
“I hope that we will simply vote for him on that first poll, after which go transfer on to the enterprise of the folks,” stated Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., who backs Johnson.
Mentioned Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., “A big portion of that will likely be as much as Donald Trump.”
