WASHINGTON (AP) — Kevin McCarthy After the bill was passed by the House, he was removed from the Speaker’s office. A bipartisan approach To prevent a federal shutdown, the new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson He faces a similar political fate himself, but has so far avoided it.
Johnson will lead the House of Representatives in a vote this week. legislation He will shore up federal finances and ensure federal services are not interrupted, but he similarly abandons the demands of his far-right Republican colleagues and relies on Democratic votes and the support of the House Democratic leader. Hakeem Jeffries To get this bill bipartisan approval.
Prime Minister Johnson does not appear to be in any immediate danger of being ousted. McCarthy lost his job. In a historic vote last fall, 8 Republican hardliners A motion to dismiss the Speaker was orchestrated, but it remains to be seen whether the new leader will be able to retain the position for a long time. Not at all certain.
“It’s a tough job,” said McCarthy, who is now retired from Congress and watching from the sidelines.
The government’s budget proposal is voted on Unusual and noisy sessions Lawmakers are preparing to face voters in January 2023, facing off against Republicans who hold a majority in the House of Representatives.
result November Elections The election will determine control of the White House and Congress and potentially Johnson’s political future, as party members consider whether to keep him in his position or appoint someone else as leader ahead of a party vote scheduled for late November after the election.
“The vast majority of people support Chairman Johnson. It’s unfortunate that there are about 10 people who are constantly holding this up over his head,” said Rep. Don Bacon of Neb., a moderate Republican.
“He’s a good guy. He’s got a great heart,” Bacon said. “I think he’s learned a lot this year.”
Over the past 11 months, Johnson has An impossible choice The Louisiana congressman is a relatively unknown junior party leader who was first elected in 2016. Donald TrumpHe was selected to replace McCarthy as the Republicans’ last resort.
After taking the historic step of firing McCarthy, Republicans had been wrangling behind the scenes over who should be the new speaker, with Johnson taking the reins over House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Republican whip Tom Emmer and far-right Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. Standing up and gaining supportWith President Trump’s approval.
Johnson, the lawyer, was handling one of President Trump’s key legal cases. Joe Biden’s It could also play a key role in the 2024 election, given its victory in the 2020 election and possible legal challenges to the results.
As the new speaker, Johnson inherited a deeply divided House Republican majority and moved quickly to clean things up: He purged the speaker’s staff on Capitol Hill, assembled his own team, supported the indicted former president’s bid to retake the White House and worked closely with Trump.
Johnson prioritized several House initiatives that align closely with President Trump’s policies, from the impeachment investigation of Biden to the House impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
But the fight over annual federal spending has reared its head throughout Johnson’s term, with ultra-conservative House Republicans urging the speaker to push through spending cuts even if it meant a government shutdown, as the September 30 deadline signaled the end of the fiscal year.
President Trump called on House Republicans to take a tough stance.
“I hope he takes Trump’s advice,” said Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, saying of Johnson: “He’s risk averse.”
But Johnson’s slim majority means he has just a few votes left on any given issue, so he would need near-unanimous support from his party to pass legislation over Democratic objections — something he’s already managed to survive one attempt from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. remove him from his job this year.
Ahead of a planned vote on the spending plan on Wednesday, Johnson defended his decision, saying it was a “political blunder” to lead the government into a federal shutdown just weeks before the election.
Johnson said he tried to do the “best thing” by attaching the SAVE Act, a bill that would ban immigrants without legal status from voting in national elections in the United States, something that’s already law and experts have rejected. Rarelyhappen.
But the speaker’s approach failed, with more than a dozen Republicans and nearly all Democrats voting against it. Similar moves have been made with several other bills to fund various agencies, where lawmakers opposed deep budget cuts or specific policy provisions that they deemed too extreme.
“So we have to choose the next one that’s available,” Johnson said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
Johnson said the interim government budget, which would keep the country operating until December 20, was bare bones with no additional funding except for $231 million for the U.S. military in the wake of the assassination attempt on President Trump during the election campaign.
Johnson insisted he and President Trump were “on the same page” about the strategy and had discussed the situation “at length.” He also vowed that the House would not jump on the additional spending when the next round of funding comes in December.
“There is no divide between us,” Johnson said of Trump.
A key difference between the situation McCarthy faced and this week’s vote is that last year Congress was also considering funding to help Ukraine buy weapons to combat Russian aggression, but Trump and the far-right did not support it. It was ultimately removed from the final bill..
This week’s emergency bill also does not include any additional war funds, but the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky President Trump is expected to appear on Capitol Hill later this week to pressure Congress to ensure continued support.
“The truth is, I think Kevin McCarthy could have done a better job,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), an ultraconservative who opposes much of the spending bill.
Massie said he believes the only way Mike Johnson can be re-elected speaker is if Trump gives him a helping hand if he wins the White House.
The eight House Republicans who ousted McCarthy have since gone their own political ways, including Rep. Bob Good of Virginia, a former chairman of the Freedom Caucus. Lost Primary election for reelection.
McCarthy, meanwhile, isn’t necessarily seeking a comeback, but he is raising money for the House majority and donating generous campaign cash to Republicans in their hotly contested re-election bids to counter those who crossed him.
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Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
