WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday met with House Republicans ahead of a leadership election, rallying behind his key ally, Speaker Mike Johnson, as the GOP prepares for what appears to be unified control of the government.
Endorsing the Louisiana Republican for another two years as speaker, Trump said he was “with him all the way,” using words like “awesome” and “awesome” to describe Johnson. Hyatt Regency Hotel near the Capitol.
The 45th and future 47th presidents were welcomed by ordinary Republicans during the meeting. Introducing Trump on stage, Johnson called Trump the “King of Comebacks”.
“We did something no one else could do,” the speaker said, adding that congressional Republicans were riding the Trump wave to victory. (Johnson and his party announced victory in the House elections last week a few competitive races remain prominent and NBC News has not yet predicted which party will control the chamber).
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump confidant who was with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago after his election victory, attended the meeting and was escorted to a front-row seat. On Tuesday, Trump It is called Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy co-chairs of the new “Department of Government Efficiency”.
It was Trump’s first trip to Washington since his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last week. After the event with Republicans, Trump headed to the White House met with President Joe Biden.
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Trump’s meeting with Republicans was less about concrete policy proposals and more of a “rah-rah address.”
Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, a Trump loyalist, said as he left the meeting: “If Donald Trump says ‘jump three feet and scratch your head,’ we all jump three feet and scratch our heads.”
“Everybody loves to listen to him. He could sit there for another hour, two hours, three hours and we’d all be listening,” Nehls added. “He’s the greatest thing since sliced bread.”
January floor fight?
Later Wednesday, House Republicans will choose a leadership team that is expected to be little changed from their current one — keeping them in charge of the House for two more years thanks to a Trump-led GOP sweep.
Even before Trump’s confirmation, Republicans were expected to nominate Johnson to continue in the top job in the 119th Congress.
Johnson will need to win only half of Wednesday’s closed-door conference, an easy hurdle after Republicans have done well in the polls. But he could face a symbolic challenge. The new chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, R-Md., Rep. Andy Harris said it was uncertain whether the group would nominate someone to run against Johnson, adding that “it’s kind of a race to have two people in one race. the norm in America”.
To secure his first full term in the job, Johnson will still need to win a simple majority of 218 votes in January – a simple majority of the total 435 seats in the House of Representatives. Given the GOP’s tight margin, a few rank-and-file Republicans could join forces with Democrats to block Johnson, but that would be highly unusual after the party’s election performance and Trump’s endorsement.
Johnson told reporters Tuesday that he is confident he will win the speaker’s nod on the Jan. 3 first ballot — unlike the 15 ballots and five days it took two years ago for GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to win the gavel. he faced resistance from his right wing. It was McCarthy kicked out as a speaker just nine months later, Makes way for Johnson.
“Everybody has ideas about how we can better improve our processes. And we won’t have some of the frustrations that we’ve had over the last year, by the smallest margin in history, with only one-third of the federal government in control. Our concerns are moving forward because we have a unified government,” Johnson said.
“Everybody is going to want to be on the team to drive the reform agenda that the American people desperately need and deserve… So I think you’re going to have complete unity in the party, I really do,” he said.
Many Johnson allies warned their GOP colleagues not to play games with the Jan. 3 speaker election after Johnson won the party’s nomination on Wednesday.
“I hope we don’t have a show on Jan. 3,” said Freedom Caucus member R-Tenn., who supports Johnson. Rep. Scott DesJarlais.
Race to replace Stefanik
Also on Wednesday, two of Johnson’s top lieutenants — Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. — He is on the way to win the re-elections for positions No. 2 and 3. They were running unopposed on Tuesday night.
Across the Capitol, Senate Republicans are expected to choose a successor to Kentucky Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who is stepping down after 18 years leading the GOP conference.
The only other high-profile competitive House Republican leadership race is to replace GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 4 leader Trump has said he will nominate. US Ambassador to the UN.
While the highest echelons of the House Republican leadership have long been dominated by white men, a woman has held the conference chair position for the past decade. Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, who is on Johnson’s leadership team as GOP conference secretary, is vying for the No. 4 position against Florida Rep. Kat Cammack, who has the backing of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Rick Scott. , R-Fla., and other conservatives.
After a successful election cycle, Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina is running for a second term as chairman of the House GOP’s campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Blake Moore of Utah, who succeeded Johnson as vice chair at the GOP convention last year after he was promoted to speaker, said he would run for a second term in the No. 6 job after briefly flirting with a bid for the conference. chair.
Conservative Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama, the GOP policy chairman, faces a challenge from Rep. Kevin Hearn of Oklahoma, where he heads the 177-member Republican Study Committee, the largest group of conservatives on Capitol Hill this cycle. There is also a competitive race for GOP conference secretary.
The GOP leadership team will play an important role in trying to advance Trump’s legislative agenda next year.
Speaking with Trump this weekend at his Florida home in Mar-a-Lago, Johnson said his strategy would be to “work out the details,” and said Republicans had discussed how they could take advantage of last year’s budget “reconciliation.” It’s a secret legislative tool that allows the majority party to bypass filibusters and advance a bill with 51 votes if the majority party takes control of Congress and the White House.
He acknowledged that the last time Republicans gained unified control of government after Trump’s first victory in 2017, “the Republican Party was not fully prepared for that moment and valuable time was wasted at the beginning of that Congress.”
“We’re not going to make these mistakes again,” said Johnson, a freshman lawmaker that year. “We’ll be ready on day one. This time we’re ready. And as we wind down, the 118th Congress will be ready to pick up the ball and run full speed in the 119th Congress, which begins in January.”