Representatives reflect on state of U.S. House
Womack: ‘Easy part’ over
— When Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives elected Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson as its speaker, they managed to do something they had not accomplished in this Congress: unite around a candidate.
The House Republican Conference unanimously backed Johnson on Wednesday, elevating the little-known Louisianan to the speakership in one round of voting. Kevin McCarthy won the gavel in January after 15 rounds, but he lost the job earlier this month after hard-right Republicans successfully forced a “motion to vacate.” Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan failed to win enough votes on three occasions before House Republicans dropped him as their choice.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., did not even receive full House consideration; both ended their speaker bids amid inner-conference strife.
Rep. Steve Womack, R-Arkansas, described electing Johnson as “the easy part.”
“I think it’s logical to say he’s benefiting from the fact that we’re tired of this,” he said. “We’ve got to move on. He’s benefiting from a weary Republican majority struggling to find the right person.”
Johnson, who joined the House in 2017, begins his tenure with a list of issues needing congressional consideration like support for Israel and Ukraine, as well as averting a government shutdown Nov. 17. The same Republicans who ousted McCarthy also remain in the House.
“What [Johnson] is going to face is a very balkanized GOP majority,” said Womack, of Rogers.
“Getting rules passed, getting critical legislation across the floor in a divided government is still a big challenge. It’s not going to go away. In fact, it may even increase in intensity.”
With the House voting again after the three-week standstill, one of Johnson’s responsibilities will involve maintaining civility within the Republican caucus. House Republicans control the chamber with 221 seats compared to 212 Democratic seats, leaving little room for mistakes or conflict.
House Republicans did not remove the threat of a “motion to vacate” in selecting a new speaker; one member could call for a vote to remove Johnson from the position at any time, which
doomed McCarthy’s tenure after nine months with the gavel.
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led the motion to dump McCarthy, applauded Johnson’s election.
“Hopefully, nobody wants to go through this again,” Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas, said following Johnson’s victory.
Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Arkansas, spoke highly of Johnson, describing the speaker as a “man of integrity,” yet remarked he backed Johnson because he was the Republican choice.
“I know Mike. I know he’s a good guy,” added Crawford, of Jonesboro. “The fact remains you still have people that sometimes decide when they want to follow the rules and when they don’t. That’s what got us in this place in the first place.”
Westerman, Crawford and Rep. French Hill, R-Arkansas, supported the Republican caucus’s picks throughout the speakership snafu. During Jordan’s effort to win the gavel, Womack backed Scalise, denouncing how colleagues impaired Scalise’s nomination before the full House could vote on his speakership candidacy.
When Jordan served as House Republicans’ pick, Minnesota Rep. Pete Stauber twice cast a lone vote for Westerman, who additionally serves as House Natural Resources Committee chairman. The Hot Springs congressman dismissed suggestions about becoming speaker, stressing the importance of House Republicans formulating a plan to legislate.
According to Womack, colleagues even approached him about interest in wielding the gavel.
“I would just always say, ‘We’re not to the W’s yet. I’m at the end of the alphabet,’” he joked. “It almost seemed like we were going to have to go through the alphabet.”
Womack tied the failure of other Republicans to win the speakership to a “lack of trust” among conference members.
“Mike Johnson is somebody you can trust. He’s not going to tell you one thing and do something else,” he said. “A straight-shooter, solid Christian conservative who’s going to advocate for the policies that we think are important for the country.”
Crawford said a successful Johnson tenure will require building trust with voters disgusted by the House’s deadlock with Republican disharmony on public display.
“It starts by electing a speaker,” he said. “In doing that in the fashion that we did without a dissenting vote, that helped.”
Hill, of Little Rock, noted efforts to improve the public’s perception of House Republicans must involve communication between members and allowing committees to work.
“The secret to success in the House is to have strong, vibrant committees that are working and producing legislation that involves all of our members,” he said. “I think that will move us in the right direction.”
Westerman and Johnson spoke about the necessity of a unifying conference plan. During the conversation, Westerman emphasized the importance of Congress passing appropriations bills promptly and committees’ roles in policy issues.
Johnson presented a proposal to Republican colleagues Monday about passing remaining appropriations bills, acknowledging the necessary preparation for negotiating a final deal with the White House and the Democrat-controlled Senate.
“Mike’s got a plan,” Westerman said Wednesday. “I look forward to getting back to work.”
The speaker’s plan includes a schedule for the House to consider remaining appropriations bills. He noted the chamber should consider the Energy and Water funding measure before members leave Washington, D.C., at week’s end.
The chamber passed the bill Thursday afternoon in a 210-199 vote.
House Democrats united around Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York during the speakership episode. In his Wednesday speech nominating Jeffries, Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., criticized Johnson for leading efforts challenging the 2020 presidential election and positions opposing abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.
“House Republicans have put their names behind someone who has been called the most important of the Electoral College objections,” Aguilar said.
Grant Tennille, chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas, issued a statement Wednesday calling Johnson “the most extreme speaker in the country’s history.”
Crawford dismissed Democrats’ challenges to Johnson, describing the examinations as “parsing his record.”
“Everybody has a record that’s been in this business for any time at all,” Crawford said. “I don’t necessarily know if any of that is disqualifying.”
Womack recognized his differences with Johnson, including over the last presidential election and Johnson’s opposition to the Sept. 30 stopgap funding measure preventing a government shutdown.
“At the end of the day, we need to be able to work together on things that unite us and not divide us,” Womack said.
When Womack and Johnson spoke Wednesday morning before the House’s vote, the Rogers congressman promised to help ensure a successful speakership.
“There’s been a whole lot of angst, finger-pointing, back-biting and just all kinds of things happening behind the scenes,” Womack said.
“I think Mike has the personality to reduce the temperature, lower the volume, and get people back talking once again. I think that’s a leadership quality that’s going to pay big dividends for him.”
House members left the nation’s capital after Thursday’s appropriations vote. The chamber’s next votes are set for Wednesday.