WASHINGTON — Just six months after becoming speaker of the House through a tumultuous process that roiled the GOP, Mike Johnson faced an effort by insurgent conservatives to remove him.
His fellow Louisianan Steve Scalise — who had maintained his role as majority leader after falling short in his own bid for the speakership — countered the coup attempt with a parliamentary maneuver.
After one-on-one discussions with House members, Scalise and Johnson knew that enough Democrats and Republicans didn’t support the attack to allow killing it with a motion to table.
Scalise’s move ended the episode before any member had to cast a direct vote on the speaker’s future.
The episode showed the solidarity of the two LSU grads, who at the end of October took over running a U.S. House rife with deep divisions that has slowed legislative activity.
The 118th Congress, which faces elections Nov. 5, has been deemed by many in both parties as one of the least productive since the 1930s. The Republican-controlled House has passed about 50 substantive bills, most of which haven’t been considered by the Democratic-majority Senate.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Maine Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said a refusal to negotiate has held up the legislative process.
“House Republicans have proven time and again that they are the party of extremism and chaos, refusing to work with Democrats to pass bipartisan legislation,” Pingree said.
Johnson acknowledges that “personality politics and the frivolous character assassination” has defined the 118th Congress. But he argues the House still has done significant work.
“Despite having the smallest majority in the history of Congress, House Republicans have passed critical legislation to secure our border, bring down costs, and hold the Biden-Harris Administration accountable,” said Johnson, who is from Benton in north Louisiana. “Leader Scalise has been a longtime friend and trusted mentor, and I look forward to working together to grow our majority in November and begin the important work of undoing many of this administration’s policies.”
Scalise, a Republican from Jefferson, struck a similar note.
“With a close House majority, every week presents challenges passing our agenda, but we have met those challenges, including passing HR1, the most pro-American energy bill; HR2, the strongest border security bill ever taken up by Congress; and bills to lower inflation, get our economy back on track, and get spending under control,” Scalise said.
Those bills were primarily supported by Republicans and haven’t been taken up in the Senate.
Some fault the House majority for spending too much time on fractious side issues, such as impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over border security. The Senate sidestepped starting an impeachment trial.
And the House GOP spent months trying to impeach President Joe Biden, only to issue a report that showed no direct link to business deals that Republicans alleged amounted to wrongdoing.
In the meantime, the House postponed considering the Farm Bill, dismissed a bipartisan Senate border security proposal and left town early without passing a budget.
Still, others credit the two Louisiana lawmakers for finding a way forward in a trying time in the House.
Though conservative themselves, Johnson and Scalise have been willing to use legislative rules to circumvent the “our way or the highway” intransigence of some GOP members. The two have been willing to trade some hard-line objectives, while maintaining conservative points, to draw Democratic support.
Johnson says getting something to build off in the future is better than throwing a “hail Mary pass every play.” But his deal-making often draws the wrath of some fellow Republicans.
Johnson and Scalise overcame intense opposition from the far-right to, with the help of Democrats, pass legislation that sent $95.3 billion in military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The package included requirements that the Chinese owner of Tik-Tok sell the video-sharing app after the election or face a ban in the U.S.
The House, facing anger from a group of GOP hard-liners and resistance from some Democrats, also renewed Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows collection of foreign intelligence from non-U.S. persons located abroad.
Biden signed the foreign aid and intelligence bills into law.
The slimness of the Republican 220-212 House majority means the loss of just a few GOP votes can kill legislation, giving a handful of representatives disproportionate power.
And the five major groups, or caucuses, in the GOP House often don’t agree with each other. The 42 members of the Freedom Caucus, for example, routinely use House rules to sidetrack votes on bills they deem not conservative enough despite majority support.
Johnson’s path to leading the House was winding, and his selection unexpected.
A largely unknown backbencher, Johnson was elected speaker in October following three weeks of GOP turmoil in which three party leaders, including Scalise and Freedom Caucus co-founder Jim Jordan of Ohio, failed to win enough Republican votes. The free-for-all started after conservatives, angry that then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, had turned to Democrats to help avoid a government shutdown, ousted him.
The next day Johnson, aware he was being mentioned as a possible successor, texted longtime friend Woody Jenkins, the leader of the Baton Rouge Republican Party.
“With two of my closest friends and brothers, Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan, having announced their candidacies, I have a peace about simply waiting upon the Lord to see what develops. If neither of those more senior members is able to get to the magic number of 218 votes, a consensus candidate will be required,” Johnson texted Jenkins on Oct. 4. “One thing is certain: The next Speaker will be faced with unprecedented challenges and will need to begin every day on his knees.”
Retired U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin says that during his own time in the House, from 1980 to 2005, Republican majorities were often narrow, as it is now.
“The difference today is that the Republicans are not as united as they were back then,” he said.
The lack of cohesion on general policies allows small groups of representatives to hold out rather than negotiate, he added.
“When you’re not copacetic, that makes it a lot more difficult,” he said. “That’s what you’ve been seeing.”
Echoing what staffers and current representative say, Tauzin notes that Johnson and Scalise have focused on getting Republicans to agree on goals and accepting that the legislative process is incremental, which doesn’t immediately translate into legislative action.
In that work, the two leaders from Louisiana complement each other, he said.
Johnson has deep knowledge about specific ideas and can articulate pros and cons succinctly, several observers say.
“Everyone says how nice he is, how respectful he is. He has a lot of talent,” Tauzin said.
“Steve has his own strengths,” he said of Scalise. “Members really like him. He’s an incredible asset. He sees a problem before it becomes a real problem and deals with it.”
A member of GOP leadership since 2014, Scalise is well-versed in the legislative process, the rules, the rivalries and the pet issues of individual members.
As majority leader, Scalise had a chilly relationship with McCarthy when he was speaker.
By contrast, Johnson and Scalise are friendly and see eye-to-eye politically and practically on most issues, staffers and fellow members of Congress say. Their respective staffs are filled with experts from Louisiana, many of whom have known each other a long time and can help ensure that the leadership rows in the same direction.
Scalise and Johnson just missed each other on LSU’s Baton Rouge campus.
Scalise, 58, graduated in 1989. He was elected to the Louisiana House in 1996, where he served for all but five months as a state senator until being elected to the U.S. House in 2008.
Johnson, 52, graduated in 1995, then entered Paul M. Hebert Law Center, earning a law degree in 1998. While in law school, Johnson volunteered for the Louisiana Family Forum, a Baton Rouge group of ministers and congregants who lobby for conservative legislation. As an attorney, he worked on cases to expand conservative Christian policies in public schools and government.
They first met when Scalise was in the Legislature pushing bills limiting abortions and banning same-sex marriage. Johnson was working for groups that defended conservative Christian legislation in court.
When Johnson joined Congress in 2017, two years into a four-year term in the Louisiana House, Scalise was already the Republican’s House whip, in charge of corralling votes, and was the dean of the Louisiana delegation.
As the top two leaders in the House, their offices are side by side. They meet daily when at the Capitol.
When Scalise was in Jefferson Parish earlier this year being treated for cancer, the two were in touch regularly to work through their legislative agenda.
The Rev. Gene Mills, who heads Louisiana Family Forum, described Johnson’s superpower as his eagerness to enter “the lion’s den.”
“A lot of politicians have staff who say, ‘It takes too much time, move on.’ But Mike has a willingness to sit down with people who disagree and hear them out,” Mills said. “He is a five-star general who guides his troops well, treats his opposition with respect and navigates a treacherous political landscape.”
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Publish date : 2024-08-25 22:00:00
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