Tag Archive for: House Speaker Mike Johnson

58 Democrats Vote Against Resolution To Honor Charlie Kirk’s Life

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Nearly five dozen House Democrats voted against a resolution honoring the life and legacy of assassinated Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on Friday morning.

Lawmakers voted 310 to 58 to approve the resolution introduced by House Speaker Mike Johnson and 165 GOP lawmakers. House Democrats, including Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, rejected the measure celebrating Kirk’s life by citing their disagreement with his political views.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team voted for the measure. Thirty-eight House Democrats voted “present” on the resolution and 22 Democratic lawmakers did not vote.

“Such acts of politically motivated violence are antithetical to the principles of a free republic, in which differences of opinion are to be debated—not silenced—with civility, reason, and mutual respect,” the resolution reads in part.

Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10 during a speaking event at Utah Valley University. Authorities have charged suspected assassin Tyler Robinson, 22, with aggravated murder, a capital offense. Robinson has been reported to have ties to far-left ideology.

At the time of his death Kirk was 31. The slain conservative activist leaves behind a widow and two young children.

House Democratic leadership broadcast their support for the bill in a closed-door meeting, but did not issue a recommendation to their members on how to vote, Axios first reported.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Republicans’ campaign arm, torched Democrats for voting against the resolution honoring Kirk’s legacy and denouncing political violence.

“The modern Democrat Party is simply too radical and unhinged to condemn a politically motivated assassination and honor a man and father of two whose only crime was loving America, winning the debate in the proper fashion, and inspiring others to do the same,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement.

The Senate passed a similar resolution by unanimous consent earlier in the week. The upper chamber also passed a resolution to establish a “National Day of Remembrance” for the slain activist on Thursday. The commemorative day will be on Oct. 14, Kirk’s birthday.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

‘Next’: Schumer Dodges Simple Question About Medicaid For Illegal Immigrants

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sidestepped a question about whether he supported states giving illegal migrants taxpayer-funded health insurance at a press conference Wednesday.

The House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act included a provision to penalize 14 states and the District of Columbia who enroll illegal immigrants in state health insurance programs by reducing their federal Medicaid funding for the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion population. The Daily Caller News Foundation asked Schumer about the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) preliminary projections that 1.4 million illegal immigrants would lose health coverage as a result of this provision in the House-drafted bill.

Schumer immediately reacted by slamming the president’s tax and spending bill before offering a word salad on his opposition to congressional Republicans’ proposed crack down on states who give illegal migrants free healthcare.

“The bottom line is the overall bill is so awful,” Schumer said. “If they want to aim — if they got some specific issues aim it, don’t just do just do a ‘meat axe,’ chainsaw, across the board and cut everything, everything, everything.”

“This goes way beyond what they’re talking about and hurts everybody,” Schumer added.

The DCNF’s Andi Shae Napier attempted to ask a follow-up regarding Schumer’s opposition to the Medicaid reform provision before he declared “next question.”

The Democratic leader also incorrectly said the CBO projections were “GOP numbers” and questioned the accuracy of the congressional scorekeeper’s estimates.

The Medicaid provision specifically lowers the Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP) — the Medicaid match rate the federal government pays to states that expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act — from 90% to 80%. The proposal would force certain blue states to cover 20% of the cost themselves, putting billions of dollars in Medicaid funding they depend on at risk.

GOP lawmakers and Trump administration officials have defended their Medicaid reforms as preserving the entitlement program’s benefits for those who need it most while eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Savings generated from reforming Medicaid contributed in part to more than $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over a decade in the president’s landmark bill.

“We’re not cutting Medicaid,” Speaker Mike Johnson told “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker on Sunday. “What we are doing is reducing the program wrought with fraud, waste and abuse to make sure that that program is essential to so many people and ensure that it is available for the most vulnerable, and it’s intended for young, single pregnant women, the disabled and elderly.”

Johnson added that 7.6 million people “will supposedly be affected by this,” referring to preliminary CBO projections. “When you look at the numbers and break them down, this is high on public opinion. You are talking about [removing] 1.4 million illegal immigrants.”

A spokesperson for Schumer did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment seeking clarification on the Democratic leader’s position.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Congressional Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

4 Times Mike Johnson Has Beaten the Odds

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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has consistently beaten the odds throughout the first five months of the 119th Congress, settling seemingly irreconcilable disagreements within the fractious House Republican Conference to advance President Donald Trump’s highest priorities.

And Johnson, R-La., hasn’t forgotten to remind the public.

“I know some of y’all smiled and probably mocked me a little bit when I said early on we were going to do this by Memorial Day,” the Louisiana lawmaker told reporters Thursday after passing the budget reconciliation bill through the House.

To be sure, the House of Representatives has not delivered a major piece of legislation to the president’s desk so far, nor has it codified any of the president’s major executive orders, with the exception of approving the official renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America.”

But Johnson, whose gavel was at risk in January at the start of the new Congress, has proven himself capable of herding his caucus at the most important moments.

1. Holding Onto His Gavel

After being somewhat of a divisive figure in the 118th Congress, Johnson’s first fight in the House in early January at the opening of the 119th Congress was to persuade his party to back him almost unanimously to be speaker again.

Three Republican representatives—Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Keith Self of Texas, and Thomas Massie of Kentucky—voted against him in the first round of votes.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, was considered a possible “no” vote against Johnson but ended up voting for the Louisiana Republican.

But through negotiations on the floor, as well as by calling in the president to speak with GOP members, Johnson was able to hold on to his gavel as he won over holdouts.

Trump played a hands-on role in it as well, calling Norman and Self from a golf course to persuade them that Johnson was the right man for the gavel.

2. Continuing Resolution

One of Johnson’s earliest tests was passing a continuing resolution to continue spending levels from former President Joe Biden’s term and prevent a government shutdown.

Given Republicans’ reluctance to continue Biden’s policies—especially amid early excitement over the Department of Government Efficiency—winning over conservatives to vote for a continuing resolution was no easy task.

But Johnson was able to win over unlikely allies to this effort. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., even joined Johnson at a press conference to argue for the stopgap funding bill as a way to sustain Trump’s and DOGE’s momentum.

It ultimately passed 217-213, with Massie as the only Republican voting against it. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine was the only Democrat to vote for it.

3. Senate Budget Plan

After Trump gave his endorsement to the Senate’s budget resolution in April, Johnson was forced to win over fiscal conservatives to vote for a plan that many of them felt was inadequate in terms of spending-cut targets.

Johnson accomplished that primarily by persuading the fiscal hawks that the budget plan—a necessary first step before budget reconciliation—was not something to fret over in the grand scheme of things.

Asked at the time what his case to these holdouts was, Johnson said, “Look, the resolution is not the law itself. The resolution continues the process; it’s a necessary step. So, the real deliberation and the consensus has to be built around the bill itself, and that’s what I’ve told everybody.”

Johnson won over every member of his party except for Massie and Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana.

In Roy’s telling, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., made promises to him that the eventual budget reconciliation would include major spending cuts and reforms of Biden-era green energy subsidies and Medicaid expansion.

Johnson also reportedly told the fiscal hawks that they could vote him out as speaker if he didn’t stay true to his promises of fiscal conservatism in the bill, according to Politico.

4. Reconciling SALT and the Freedom Caucus

Johnson’s most recent triumph was winning the vote of holdouts from two stubborn factions—advocates of a higher cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions on federal taxes and members of the House Freedom Caucus.

A SALT deduction allows residents in high-tax states to deduct their state and local taxes on their federal tax returns. Under Trump’s first-term 2017 tax cuts—which are set to expire at the end of the year—taxpayers can deduct up to $10,000 on their returns under SALT.

Johnson at first offered this group of blue state Republicans a $30,000 cap, which most of them rejected as insufficient.

However, on Tuesday night—barely over a day before the reconciliation floor vote, Johnson was able to satisfy the SALT advocates with a $40,000 cap with limitations on income levels for those eligible for the deduction.

That’s an extremely generous offer that quadruples the SALT deduction, but one that might not stand once it goes to the Senate.

But Johnson’s real triumph came in managing to win over Freedom Caucus’ fiscal conservatives after appeasing the SALT caucus.

On Wednesday morning, the final day of negotiations, Harris said, “I think actually we’re further away from a deal, because that SALT cap increase, I think, upset a lot of conservatives.”

Nevertheless, Johnson was able to win over the Freedom Caucus members by bringing the bill to the floor for consideration Wednesday night and coordinating with the White House to persuade the holdouts.

Johnson also released a final draft from the House Rules Committee that included key concessions to the Freedom Caucus, such as earlier implementation of Medicaid work requirements (2026 rather than 2029), and an earlier expiration of Biden’s green energy tax credits.

The result was an odds-defying triumph for House leadership, as only two Republicans, Massie and Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, voted against the bill. Harris voted “present.”

AUTHOR

George Caldwell

George Caldwell is a journalism fellow at The Daily Signal. Send an email to George. George on X: .

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GOP Speaker Cancels Vote That Would Have Slashed $9.3 Billion in Wasteful Spending — USAID, PBS, NPR

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President Trump requested $9.3 billion in rescissions, targeting programs like the State Department, USAID, PBS, and NPR. Congress was expected to vote on this, with Republican support aiming to codify cuts suggested by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

That vote was cancelled.

If Congress doesn’t approve the recissions request within 45 days of receiving it, Trump will be legally required to release the money back to the agencies.

Congress was scheduled to vote on rescissions this week to cut waste and fraud identified by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), targeting programs like USAID, PBS, and NPR. However, these votes were quietly canceled. No specific reasons for the cancellation were detailed in the available information, leaving the decision unclear. Some X posts expressed frustration, suggesting a lack of political will among Republicans to follow through on codifying DOGE’s proposed cuts. The rescissions were intended to formalize DOGE’s findings, which included billions in alleged waste, such as improper payments and fraudulent contracts, through a fast-track process under the Impoundment Control Act that requires only a simple majority in the Senate. Despite the cancellation, there’s no indication of rescheduling, and the issue remains a point of contention, with some lawmakers advocating for Congress to act to make DOGE’s cuts permanent.

What’s going on in DC? Why won’t the GOP majority get these rescissions passed?

Among the top targets in the package:

$8.3 billion in foreign aid, largely through the now-defunct USAID, an agency President Trump has shut down and folded into the State Department.

$1.1 billion in funding for NPR and PBS, which Trump officials have labeled “far-left indoctrination machines funded by taxpayers.”

Politico reported back in April:

The White House will soon ask Congress to cancel $9.3 billion already approved for foreign aid initiatives, public broadcasting and other programs, according to a White House official granted anonymity to speak freely.

Congress is expected to receive that so-called rescissions request when lawmakers return from their two-week recess later this month. To nix the funding, the House and Senate will each have to vote at a simple-majority threshold to approve the formal ask.

The White House package is expected to target funding for the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Institute of Peace and other programs, along with assistance to PBS and NPR through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

It would answer a call from congressional Republicans, who have ramped up their demands in recent months to defund public media companies for alleged bias against conservatives in programming and coverage. The CEOs of PBS and NPR testified at a hearing in March before the House Oversight subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency — the panel of lawmakers tasked with working in tandem with Elon Musk’s DOGE.

A Trump administration document obtained Monday also shows the White House is considering a larger request to revoke funding for the State Department and USAID, as well as asking Congress to cut those budgets by almost half for the upcoming fiscal year.

Congressional Republicans have been asking President Donald Trump and other administration officials for more a month now to send over a formal rescissions package, which would allow lawmakers to approve or reject specific funding cuts. There are efforts on Capitol Hill to bring legitimacy to moves by the White House to freeze billions of dollars in federal funding, which keep running up against a barrage of lawsuits. Some GOP senators have even directly appealed to Elon Musk for the chance to codify the spending cuts he’s made through his Department of Government Efficiency initiative.

But just because GOP lawmakers asked for a rescissions package doesn’t mean the $9.3 billion request will be swiftly approved. When Trump sent a request in 2018 to claw back $15 billion, the Senate rejected the plan. And not all Republicans support cutting funding for all the programs Trump would target in the new request.

If Congress doesn’t approve the recissions request within 45 days of receiving it, Trump will be legally required to release the money back to the agencies.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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House Speaker Bars Biological Men From Women’s Bathrooms In U.S. Capitol

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House Speaker Mike Johnson issued a statement Wednesday that bars biological men from women’s bathrooms, according to a press release obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Johnson said “all single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings (like restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms) are reserved for individuals of that biological sex.”

“Women deserve women’s only spaces,” Johnson said, adding that the policy affirmed existing House rules regarding single-sex facilities on Capitol Hill.

The statement comes after Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace introduced a resolution Monday requiring individuals in the Capitol complex use facilities that correspond with their biological sex shortly before Democratic Congressman-elect Sarah McBride is due to be sworn in as the first member of Congress ever to identify as transgender.

Johnson also noted that, “each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol.”

When asked later about the policy’s enforceability, Johnson said: “like all House policies, it’s enforceable,” adding that, “we have single-sex facilities for a reason.”

Republican Reps. Erin Houchin of Indiana and Chip Roy of Texas also weighed in.

“Biological men have no place in women’s spaces such as locker rooms and bathrooms,” Houchin told the DCNF. “The American people made it very clear on Election Day that they are sick of leftist ideologies that are chipping away at women’s rights. I’m glad Speaker Johnson has taken a stand to protect the women here on Capitol Hill.”

Roy echoed Houchin and Johnson’s sentiment, saying, “you just need to answer the question, ‘is this individual a man or a woman?’…this individual [Mcbride] is a man, and society can’t ignore those obvious differences.”

Mace was raped by a friend and classmate at age 16, according to the Post and Courier, and she has since said the traumatic experience created the “hardest time in her life.”

“I’m not going to stand for a man, you know, someone with a penis is in the women’s locker room. That’s not okay,” Mace told reporters Tuesday. “I’m a victim of abuse myself. I’m a rape survivor. I have PTSD from the abuse I’ve suffered at the hands of a man and I know how vulnerable women and girls are in private spaces.”

The issue of transgender individuals using bathrooms of the opposite sex caught national attention after a biological boy in Loudon County, Virginia, raped a female student in a girls bathroom at a public school in 2021. The school went on to deny that the assault was a result of its trans-inclusive policies.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect additional comments.

AUTHOR

Owen Klinsky

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Third Republican Announces Support for Ousting Johnson as House Speaker

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A third House Republican has announced he will co-sponsor a motion to vacate introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., that, if passed, would end Mike Johnson’s tenure as House speaker after fewer than six months.

If all 213 House Democrats vote in support of the motion to remove Johnson, R-Ky., as speaker, only three Republicans would need to cross over for the motion to carry, 216-215, once Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., resigns, as he plans to do imminently.

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., announced that he would join the Georgia Republican’s effort to oust Johnson, saying in a written statement:

[R]ather than spending the resources to secure our southern border and combating the invasion of 11 million illegals and despite repeated promises there would be no additional money going to Ukraine without first securing our border, the United States House of Representatives, under the direction of the speaker, is on the verge of sending another $61 billion to further draw America into an endless and purposeless war in Ukraine.

“Our border cannot be an afterthought,” Gosar added. “We need a speaker who puts America first rather than bending to the reckless demands of the warmongers, neo-cons and the military industrial complex making billions from a costly and endless war half a world away.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., announced earlier this week he supports Greene’s motion to vacate.

Gosar’s decision comes as Johnson relied on House Democrats’ votes to pass a series of foreign aid bills opposed by many conservative Republicans.

Johnson brushed off the threat of Greene’s motion to vacate Wednesday, saying: “I am not resigning. And it is in my view an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion when we are simply here trying to do our jobs.”

Johnson became House speaker in October after the ouster from the post of his predecessor, former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., by a motion to vacate. The Kentucky Republican has faced increasing pressure from conservatives in the House.

Johnson continues to have the support of former President Donald Trump, who said Johnson is doing a “very good job” when the two appeared together April 12 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

“I stand with the speaker,” Trump said.

Johnson was elected House speaker with the votes of 220 Republicans. His predecessor, McCarthy, was removed as speaker after eight Republicans and all Democrats voted against him.

Since Johnson became speaker, McCarthy and Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., have resigned and left Congress. Former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., was expelled in a House vote, and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., plans to resign soon.

When Gallagher leaves office, that will leave 217 Republicans and 213 Democrats, a razor-thin Republican majority.

Jarrett Stepman contributed to this report.

AUTHOR

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Speaker Johnson Releases January 6th Capitol Tapes

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House Speaker Mike Johnson released a tranche of tapes of the January 6th, 2021 Capitol riot on a website so Americans could watch the footage for themselves.

Speaker Johnson announced Friday on X he was going to be releasing the tapes and proceeded to post a link to them on the Committee on House Administration’s website.

“Follow the link below to view the January 6th tapes for yourself,” Johnson said on X. “To restore America’s trust and faith in their Government we must have transparency. This is another step towards keeping the promises I made when I was elected to be your Speaker.”

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy previously turned over some of the January 6th footage to former Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson.

Beginning on Nov. 20, the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight will allow Americans to access the January 6th footage in person, the subcommittee said in a press release.

“This decision will provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media an ability to see for themselves what happened that day, rather than having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials.” Johnson wrote in another X post. “Processing will involve blurring the faces of private citizens on the yet unreleased tapes to avoid any persons from being targeted for retaliation of any kind and segregating an estimated 5% of the videos that may involve sensitive security information related to the building architecture.”

U.S. Capitol Police security cameras captured footage of the Capitol riot, and it includes the videos released by Tucker Carlson. Additional footage will continue to be uploaded to the website following the initial tranche of footage released Friday.

“The goal of our investigation has been to provide the American people with transparency on what happened at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and this includes all official video from that day,” Republican Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, Chairman of the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight, said.

“We will continue loading video footage as we conduct our investigation and continue to review footage. As I’ve said all along — the American people deserve transparency, accountability, and real answers supported by facts instead [of] a predetermined political narrative,” Loudermilk added.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has prosecuted more than 1,200 individuals from nearly all 50 states in connection with the Jan. 6th riot as of Nov. 6, 2023.

This story has been updated to include statements from Republican lawmakers and additional context surrounding Jan. 6.

AUTHOR

JAMES LYNCH

Investigative reporter. James Lynch can be reached on Twitter @jameslynch32.

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‘It’s a New Day’: Mike Johnson Brings Principles and Purpose to Speakership

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While D.C. politicos scramble to figure out who House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is, here at Family Research Council, we needed no introduction. To most of us, the young-looking Louisiana lawyer represents the best the movement has to offer. “He’s a social conservative’s conservative,” Politico pointed out in a lengthy piece about his relationship with FRC. But more than that, he’s a man who deeply loves God and this country. So as senators like Susan Collins (R-Maine) turn to Google to find out who the new speaker is, we can tell you simply: he’s the real deal.

My boss, FRC President Tony Perkins, met Mike more than two decades ago when the future speaker was just an up-and-coming law student at LSU. During Tony’s days in the Louisiana legislature, the two crossed paths a lot, eventually working together on a blockbuster bill that became one of the first abortion clinic regulation laws in the country.

“You mentioned how far back we go,” Johnson said in an interview on “Washington Watch” a couple years ago. “I saw you as a young state legislator, and I remember that your banner and your motto when you ran for office was ‘raising the standard.’ And that resonated with me, because I felt that same call on my life. And in so many ways, Tony, you were a huge influence on my life. I saw that you could do it. … [Other] people that I knew [also] did it right and did it well, and they followed the Lord first. And it showed in all their work and their life and their family. And that was a great encouragement to me.”

As Johnson alluded to in his speech before the House chamber Wednesday, the road to Congress was paved by his God-fearing parents. “I was blessed,” he emphasized to Tony. “I was raised in a Christian household, and my parents — I was actually the conception of a teenage pregnancy my parents’ junior year in high school. And they dropped out, decided to have me, and keep me. And that’s why I’m so pro-life today. I’m a living example of faithfulness. … They just trusted God.”

And made sacrifices. “My dad went to work early. They didn’t finish high school. Then he went back later, got his GED, but I don’t have any memory of not being a Christian,” Mike said. “I got saved when I was seven years old. I got baptized in a horse trough out behind our old country church in northwest Louisiana. And I was just raised to know and understand and believe that faith is very real. And it was just part of the fabric of our family, and who we are.”

But the fabric of that family was tested when Mike was just 12. His dad, an assistant chief for the Shreveport, Louisiana fire department, was a training officer. “And on September 17th, 1984,” he remembers, “he went into work on a hazardous materials leak in a cold storage plant. And the building blew up. He was burned 80% of his body, third-degree burns — and given a 5% chance to live. His co-captain died in the fire, so it was a terrible tragedy. [But] God miraculously saved my dad’s life.”

“He had a long journey back,” Mike said. “He lived another 30 years. And he was in pain every day — but he survived. … I was the oldest of four kids in my family,” he pointed out. “[And I learned that] our faith was real. … God saved my dad’s life … and I just knew that prayer worked. So that’s never left me. It’s been with me my whole life.”

When Tony asked Mike what surprised him most about his time in Congress, he replied that his answer was “kind of a sad one.” “I was surprised to see that many members of Congress are elected to serve, and they don’t truly have a fully formed philosophy of government. Some of them are not even crystal clear on what their worldview is, you know? And so it has an effect on their work and the decisions they make. … If you don’t have a fully formed philosophy of government, if you don’t have your principles set in stone … before you get there, then you’re going to be easy prey for all the influences that are out there.”

That’s why, he says, he’s been trying to encourage his colleagues to think about what it means to be a Christian in public service. “The only seedbed of virtue,” Johnson insisted, “is in religious faith. I mean, men have to understand that they owe an allegiance to a higher power, and they have a judge that is above all others. And that is what has guided our country since its founding. And that’s what’s going to continue to guide it. So we shouldn’t make apology for it. We should go out and live that boldly and encourage others to do the same.”

He owes that strength of conviction to a number of people who encouraged him along the way. “I had a mentor when I was really young, [and he] told me one time — he said, ‘Mike, you know what? Always remember this: What is popular isn’t always right, and what is right isn’t always popular.’ And we have to remember that even in politics, you know, highest levels of elected office in the country, that’s a pretty simple axiom that everybody needs to follow.”

Now, Johnson is passing that advice along to his four children — and all of the young leaders he meets. At the time, his son, Jack, was just starting high school, and he wanted to make sure that his son was firmly rooted in truth. “I said, ‘Listen, I want you to be real intentional about this. You know, the calling of a Christian young man or young woman is that you are not called to be a thermometer. You’re called to be a thermostat. What does that mean, Jack? You know, what does a thermometer do? Well, a thermometer goes into a new environment, takes a temperature, and adjusts to it. That’s not what we do. The Christian young man or woman is called to be an atmosphere changer, to be a thermostat. So you walk in, and you hold that standard, raise the standard.’”

At the end of the day, Mike said, “You live according to that truth that you know, and it will change the atmosphere you’re in. And people will look to you. … [They’re] dying for truth and authenticity. They want to know that there really is an absolute … that there’s a standard.” He pointed to Chronicles 6:9. “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the whole earth, seeking those whose hearts are holy, committed. There’s only a few in every generation, but if you’ll do that, God will give you His blessing. He’ll give you His platform. His promotion principles will set in place, and He’ll give you things that will amaze everyone.”

They were prophetic words for a man whose heart is holy, whose God has just given him that enormous platform he spoke of. And yet, back in January, Mike would have been the last to guess that when he and a handful of Republicans knelt in the House chamber to pray for the speakership, they would ultimately be paving the road to him.

As Tony said in a Newsmax interview Wednesday, America can be proud to have a man of substance at the helm. “That’s why he’s the first speaker, I think since 2011, to have unanimous support from his colleagues on the Republican side. … I’ve known Mike for 25 years, and he is going to be an excellent speaker for the times in which we live.”

Looking back on the arc of their long friendship, he said with pride, “He has a sense of purpose, and that comes from his faith. … And this is what’s important, because in politics this has gotten lost. It’s really about people. And he cares about people,” Tony insisted. “… He told me this morning, I was talking to him as he was working on his speech, and he said, ‘It’s a new day. They’re going to see a new thing in this Congress.’”

And those of us who admire him believe it.

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: Tale of Two Speeches: Speaker Johnson, Minority Leader Jeffries Articulate Different Visions for America

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. ©2023 Family Research Council.

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