By Jack Hardman, Staff Writer
The House of Representatives was speakerless for 23 days following the removal of speaker Kevin McCarthy(Ca-23). That removal was spearheaded by members of the Freedom Caucus, specifically Congressman Matt Gaetz (Fl-01) who with help from the democratic block removed McCarthy in a close vote.
The Freedom Caucus consists of House members who hold the most radical Republican views and are notoriously stubborn. Mccarthy’s removal led to a long and drawn-out race that saw four members of the Republican party rejected by the Freedom caucus for numerous reasons. That, combined with an impending government shutdown, forced them to pick someone. That someone was Mike Johnson of the 4th Congressional district of Louisiana.
Though he is relatively unknown on the national stage, Johnson has held leadership positions in Congress including Vice Chairman of the House Republican Conference for the 117th and 118th Congresses as well as Deputy Whip for the 118th Congress, which means he has more experience than people know about. Despite these influential leadership roles, most people have not heard of him before. This is characterized by junior Neal Ghoturi, who aptly describes Johnson as, “some guy from Louisiana.” This is also likely due to the fact that Johnson became a congressman in 2016 and has only held his position for 7 years.
When asked if Johnson’s lack of experience would hinder his ability to move Congress forward Neal said, “Absolutely, he would not be able to get things done because he is going to take his voting block and further alienate the Democratically-controlled Senate which will keep work from getting done.” When asked the same question Ms. Casper said, “I have no problem with fresh faces in Congress because as many know the average age of a member of Congress is very high.” Junior Shrihaan Chaudhary stated, “No, his lack of experience will not be an issue as new blood is needed on both sides of the political spectrum,” further describing Congress as, “the rule of the old”.
Johnson is known as a hardline conservative who is against same sex marriage, pro life, and he voted against the certification of the 2020 presidential election. When asked if he thought Johnson’s views represented the will of the people Neal said, “Not at all, the average person when asked is not going to care that the 14 billion dollars for Israel needs to be found or who marries who.” Neal was referring to legislation that would set aside money to support Israel in their ongoing conflict with Hamas, which is a current Congressional priority. That, combined with the battle over the federal budget, made Neal doubt that there would be Congressional or public support for more money to Israel given the economic situation here at home. Shirhaan stated that “he represents a niche wing of the Republican party” and Ms. Casper said, “while he may represent the will of the people in Louisiana, I am not sure if he represents the will of the entire population of the United States given certain views he has that I have read about.” With his newfound power Johnson can set the docket on what issues Congress deals with. When asked if he thought Johnson would use his power to further personal goals over national priorities Neal said, “He can try but it will never pass the Senate so it would be a waste of everyone’s time.” Shrihaan said, “yes I believe that he will use his position to push through personal priorities which may lead to further turmoil in the House and potentially another vote to remove the Speaker.”
Historically the Speaker vote is a ceremonial event as the person who will be Speaker is usually selected well in advance by the majority party. However, the vote to elect Mcarthy broke this precedent after it took 4 days and 15 voting sessions to elect him. Following his removal multiple candidates failed to get the votes required to be Speaker due to Freedom Caucus holdouts. When asked if she thought that the vote for Speaker would be hotly contested like this in the future Ms. Casper said,” Right now politics are incredibly divided, and while I hope we can get back to a point where that vote is ceremonial, I don’t know if or when it will return to normal.” Shrihaan expressed that,” this broke historical precedent… and this may very well lead to this Speaker and those in the future being ousted … and depending on the party in control this will be the new norm.” With a government spending bill due on November 17th, wars in Israel and Ukraine, a crisis at the southern border, and calls to impeach the president, Mike Johnson will be at the forefront of national policy for the foreseeable future.