In January 2023, after an historic 15 ballots, Kevin McCarthy ascended to the Speakership of the United States House of Representatives. For the duration of McCarthy’s 9-month long tenure, he and the Biden Administration were at loggerheads. For the GOP’s part, the standoff culminated with McCarthy negotiating a debt-ceiling deal with the Biden administration.
One of the key provisions of the deal that allowed McCarthy to become Speaker was agreeing that a single GOP House member could call for the speakership to be vacated. The GOP started with a razor-thin majority that has only gotten progressively smaller. By Friday of this week, the Republican Conference will have devolved to a one-member majority. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back.
After reaching the Debt-ceiling agreement in September 2023, The GOP Caucus led by a host of ultra-right-wing conservatives, including Jim Jordan called for vacating the Speaker’s position. The vote passed, and the Party required several votes, before finally landing on the little-known Mike Johnson as McCarthy’s successor.
October was also the month Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing over 1,200, and taking over 200 hostages. Since that time, Biden and Democrats have been attempting to secure funding for Israel and Ukraine. GOP House members have been reticent to agree. Also, Democrats in conjunction with GOP Senator James Langford negotiated an agreement on policy to address the Southern Border. However, Donald Trump advised Republicans not to accept the agreement, because he wanted to run on the migrant issue. Subsequently, the House refused to consider the matter.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a self-proclaimed Trump protégé is now engaged in a pressure campaign to remove Johnson from the Speaker’s post. She was animated by Johnson opting to work with Democrats to pass significant pieces of appropriations bills opposed by conservative members of the Republican conference. Despite her biting rhetoric, including, basically calling Johnson a Democrat, she has yet to bring a motion to vacate. Greene, from Georgia, has succeeded in enlisting the support of another member, Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie. In announcing his support for Greene, he predicted Johnson would lose by more votes than McCarthy.
That brings me back to the House GOP working margin; soon to be one vote. It’s clear, ennui has set in among members of the House GOP Conference. Several have gone on record suggesting it would be a bad idea to revisit vacating the Chair. A few have express doubts that the matter will come to a vote. Given the razor thin GOP majority, Democrats may have an outsized roll in any such effort. In fact, as the conversation has unfolded, at least a couple of Democrats have indicated they would consider voting to retain Johnson. That may or may not come to pass. But what we know at the moment is, we are staring down the barrel of “Déjà Vu All Over Again: The Mike Johnson Edition!”
I’m done; holla back!
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For more detailed information on a variety of aspects related to this post, consult the link below:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/16/politics/mike-johnson-revolt-house-gop-leadership/index.html
http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2024/04/deja-vu-all-over-again-mike-johnson.html
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