Speaker Squeaker

The first session of the 119^th Congress begins today. New senators were sworn in, and Republicans, under Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), officially took over the chamber.

With the Senate leadership already decided, all eyes were on the House of Representatives, where Mike Johnson (R-LA) was fighting to remain speaker. He had Donald Trump’s endorsement, but Thomas Massie (R-KY), Ralph Norman (R-SC), and Keith Self (R-TX) did not vote for Johnson during the roll call vote.

That’s a big problem because it takes 218 votes to win the speaker’s gavel, and there are only 219 Republicans currently in the House. Johnson could lose only one vote. But after an hour of wrangling, Norman and Self changed their votes and Mike Johnson was reelected Speaker of the House.

Several Republicans reportedly were on the fence before the voting began. They were likely trying to negotiate certain concessions for their support.

One concession that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy made was a change to the rules governing efforts to remove the speaker, known as a motion to vacate the chair. In order to get enough support from conservatives, McCarthy agreed to lower the threshold required for offering a motion to vacate to just one member of either party.

But given the GOP’s incredibly narrow majority, House Republicans are changing the rules for the 119th Congress. (Every new Congress adopts new rules.) Now, a motion to vacate will require support from nine members, and all nine must be from the majority party.

In the past, the single-member rule made sense. But now, with such a narrow majority and knowing how the left will do everything it can to undermine Donald Trump’s agenda, the higher limit makes complete sense.