Mike Johnson’s Fate Uncertain As House Speaker Vote Looms | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON ― When it meets for the primary session of a brand new Congress on Friday, the House of Representatives has to elect a speaker earlier than it will possibly do anything.

It’s not clear if Republicans are as much as the duty.

Current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) projected confidence on Thursday morning that he could be reelected, however allowed that the vote could be shut.

“We’ll have a margin of probably two votes tomorrow during that, so can only afford to lose one or two, but I think we’ll get it done,” Johnson mentioned on “Fox & Friends.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has mentioned he gained’t assist Johnson, and several other different Republicans, corresponding to Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), have sharply criticized their speaker whereas not outright promising to vote towards him.

The stakes are excessive. Johnson famous that if the House doesn’t elect a speaker, then Congress gained’t be capable of certify President-elect Donald Trump’s victory within the 2024 election.

“We cannot afford any palace drama here,” Johnson mentioned. “We have to certify the election of President Donald J. Trump on Jan. 6, on Monday.”

Palace drama has been a persistent characteristic of Republican rule since successful the House in 2022.

It took former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) 15 ballots to win the speaker’s gavel in January 2023. Eight months later, Republicans dumped McCarthy for permitting the House to move a authorities funding invoice with assist from Democrats. For three weeks, the House ceased functioning whereas Republicans struggled to determine who might succeed him, in the end selecting Johnson as a result of he had made the fewest enemies since coming to the House in 2017.

Once once more, the Republicans who oppose their speaker don’t have any clear various. And a chronic speaker drama might even intervene with the inauguration of the president-elect on Jan. 20.

Last month, Trump spoke out towards Johnson’s plan to fund the federal government, prompting a number of days of chaos earlier than Johnson in the end defied Trump’s demand that he embody a provision adjusting the federal authorities’s borrowing restrict within the invoice. But Trump endorsed Johnson for speaker this week.

Still, it’s not clear if Trump’s endorsement can sway House hardliners.

“I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan,” Massie mentioned on social media, referring to a different former speaker who fell out with Trump and the remainder of the social gathering. “We’ve seen Johnson partner with the democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget.”

Roy additionally proved impervious to a major risk from Trump throughout December’s funding fiasco.

As the vote looms, the Republican infighting might intensify.

“Chip and Thomas did not receive a mandate from the American people,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) mentioned Tuesday on social media. “Get on board or get out of the way.”