By Bo Erickson, Richard Cowan and Katharine Jackson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Mike Johnson seemed to be falling quick in his bid to retain the highest submit within the U.S. Home of Representatives on Friday, in an indication that President-elect Donald Trump’s occasion may wrestle to remain unified in Congress this 12 months.
With voting nonetheless ongoing, at the very least three Republicans voted in opposition to Johnson, probably leaving the incumbent Home speaker wanting the bulk he would want to stay within the job.
Republicans management the chamber by a razor-thin 219-215 majority. With voting nonetheless beneath method, members nonetheless had an opportunity to alter their vote or to solid a vote if that they had abstained. The ultimate end result was nonetheless in play.
The vote might be an early indication of the occasion’s capability to hold collectively because it advances Trump’s agenda of tax cuts and border enforcement. It additionally may take a look at Trump’s clout on Capitol Hill, the place a handful of Republicans have already proven a willingness to defy him.
Home Republicans have been racked by inner divisions over the past two years. Johnson was elevated to speaker after the occasion ousted his predecessor Kevin McCarthy in the midst of his time period.
The Home went by way of 15 rounds of voting over 4 days in 2023 earlier than electing McCarthy speaker.
Forward of the vote, Johnson stated he would maintain attempting if he fell quick on the primary spherical of balloting. To date, no different Republican has publicly hinted at difficult Johnson for the position.
The mild-mannered Louisiana consultant, 52, was vaulted from obscurity into certainly one of Washington’s strongest jobs throughout three weeks of turmoil in October 2023, when Republicans pressured out McCarthy and struggled to agree on a successor. The conservative Christian lawyer emerged as a consensus choose, however has since struggled to maintain his occasion unified.
He has sought to construct a detailed relationship with Trump, who endorsed him on Monday following weeks of uncertainty.
“A win for Mike right this moment might be an enormous win for the Republican Occasion,” Trump posted on-line on Friday. Trump returns to the White Home on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.
Whoever secures the speakership – a job that’s second in line to the presidency after the vp – can have an enormous job forward. Along with taking up Trump’s sweeping legislative agenda, Congress might want to deal with the nation’s debt ceiling later this 12 months.
With the federal authorities already greater than $36 trillion in debt, many congressional Republicans are anticipated to demand vital spending cuts.
Republicans have been additionally sworn into their new 53-47 Senate majority on Friday with Senator John Thune as their new chief, succeeding long-serving Senator Mitch McConnell, who’s stepping other than management however remaining in workplace.
Johnson angered some conservatives by repeatedly turning to Democrats to supply the votes to cross crucial laws, like payments to maintain authorities companies working. He additionally confronted a last-minute problem late final month when Trump informed Home Republicans to scrap a authorities funding deal, demanding it additionally elevate the nation’s debt ceiling.
A revised model of that invoice – not together with Trump’s debt-ceiling demand – handed the Home only some hours earlier than the federal government would have shut down, and it obtained extra help from Democrats than Republicans.
Congress is scheduled to satisfy on Monday to certify Trump’s presidential election victory, a operate will probably be unable to carry out with out a speaker.
Johnson has additionally seemed to make his path for the subsequent two years simpler, by altering a rule agreed to by McCarthy that allowed anybody member of the Home to name for the speaker’s ouster by way of what is called a “movement to vacate.” Johnson’s proposed guidelines would require 9 members of the bulk to agree earlier than forcing the kind of vote that led to McCarthy’s ouster.
