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Republican House speaker Mike Johnson is bracing for what could be a fraught battle on Friday as he seeks to hang on to the gavel when the 119th Congress begins today.
Despite having the full-throated endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump, the Louisiana Representative can only afford one Republican rebellion against his re-election bid when the lower chamber’s members cast their votes, so tight is the GOP’s 219 to 211 majority over the Democrats.
One congressman, Thomas Massie, has already stressed his objections to Johnson, telling One America News’s Matt Gaetz Show on Monday evening that he would not back the incumbent.
“You can pull all my fingernails out, you can shove bamboo up in them, you can start cutting off my fingers,” Massie said.
“I am not voting for Mike Johnson tomorrow, and you can take that to the bank.”
Several of his colleagues have likewise said they are unconvinced by Johnson or will require major concessions in exchange for supporting him.
A number of alternative candidates have been mooted should Johnson fail, from the plausible like Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan to the utterly fanciful in the case of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Bernie Sanders accuses Musk of seeking cheaper immigrant labor with H-1B visa
The veteran Vermont senator has weighed in on the H-1B visa controversy, accusing the world’s richest man of defending the program because the labor is “cheaper,” not brainier, than the American labor force, as the tech billionaire has argued.
Here’s more on the spat from Kelly Rissman.
Democratic whip says members should be prepared for possibility of additional votes
House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark tells colleagues: “Members are advised to be on the Floor no later than 11:45 a.m. and be prepared to vote when their name is called. Additional votes are possible.”
Today is a big test for Trump
John Boehner, the chain-smoking-wine-sipping former Republican speaker of the House, used to say: “A leader without followers is simply a man taking a walk.” Last month, Trump — vis-a-vis Elon Musk — suffered a big loss when Republicans defied him to keep the government open without a debt limit increase.
Today is another big test for Trump. He’s gotten behind Johnson fairly aggressively and has told Republicans to fall in line. If he doesn’t he’ll be the equivalent of taking that long walk across the Mar-a-Lago compound.
Potential opposition votes against Johnson circulating ‘scorecard’ of failures of 118th Congress
Politico reports that a group of conservatives and potential opposition votes against Speaker Mike Johnson are circulating a document laying out a “scorecard” that lists multiple failures of the 118th Congress.
While the author is unknown, it covers the talking points shared by Johnson’s critics ahead of today’s vote, including: How Republicans have repeatedly added to the nation’s debt, passed aid to Ukraine without the support of the majority of the GOP majority, and reauthorized FISA. In particular, they took issue with how the latest government spending bill was handled ahead of the Christmas Holiday.
It lists four “successes” and 36 “fails” since November 2023…
JD Vance calls Elon Musk’s piece praising far-right party AfD ‘interesting’
The Vice President-elect has taken to X to call an op-ed by Musk in Die Welt explaining his support for the far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) “interesting.”
Musk shared a post on X by Martin Varsavsky, who posted what he said was the article submitted by Musk to the German newspaper.
The AfD is a far-right populist, eurosceptic party that opposes immigration and has called for mass deportations.
The article, entitled “Only the AfD Can Save Germany”, outlines Musk’s belief that: “As someone who has invested significantly in Germany’s industrial and technological landscape, I believe I have earned the right to speak candidly about its political direction.”
Sharing the article, Vance commented: “I’m not endorsing a party in the German elections, as it’s not my country and we hope to have good relations with all Germans. But this is an interesting piece.”
Here’s more from Gustaf Kilander.
Members urged to be on House floor no later than 11:45 a.m.
Meanwhile, over in the Senate…
Biden to visit New Orleans on Monday
Per the White House:
On Monday, January 6, the President and First Lady will travel to New Orleans, Louisiana. The President and First Lady will grieve with the families and community members impacted by the tragic attack on January 1 and meet with officials on the ground.
The 119th Congress in numbers
Here’s ABC News’s Linsey Davis to explain how the latest incarnations of the House of Representatives and Senate differ from what’s gone before in terms of age and diversity.
