Rep. Mike Johnson voted new House speaker

Speaker designee Mike Johnson has proposed a short-term spending bill that would expire January 15 or April 15 — depending on what the House Republican conference decides — if Congress gets to the November 17 funding deadline without its single subject spending bills passed, according to a copy of his appropriations proposal provided to CNN.

Johnson said he would introduce the short-term spending bill to give Republicans more time to pass the single subject appropriations bills, many of which are dead on arrival in the Senate.

The ambitious schedule that Johnson lays out in the letter includes cancelling August recess unless all single subject spending bills are passed. 

The short-term funding proposal comes as Johnson was one of the 91 Republicans who voted against the short-term spending bill on September 30 that extended government funding until November 17. 

Ohio Republican Rep. Warren Davidson told CNN earlier Wednesday that Johnson won the support of the GOP conference as the nominee by laying out a concrete plan for his colleagues as Congress looks to avert a government shutdown.

Sen. Bill Cassidy praised his fellow Louisianan, Speaker-designee Mike Johnson, and described his legislative style as "pragmatic." 

"He's a good guy, he'll do a good job if he's elected," said Cassidy.  

"He was head of RSC (Republican Study Committee), and I think we've seen that people look to him for leadership, even after he ceased to be chair of the RSC," he said. 

Cassidy added, "yes," he believes that Johnson can lead the House to keep the government open, as the next funding deadline looms. 

However, the No.2 Senate Republican, Senate Minority Whip John Thune, said, "I don't know him."

"May have met him, but that's about it," he added. 

Rep. Gregory Meeks told CNN that House Democrats will not provide any votes for the new GOP speaker designee Mike Johnson and that they "are locked in, strong, devoted" in voting for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as speaker.

Former President Donald Trump said he thinks speaker designee Mike Johnson will be a “fantastic speaker,” and believes he’ll win the gavel.

Speaking outside the New York courtroom where his civil fraud trial is taking place, Trump said he thinks the Louisiana Republican will do very well.

“He could be somebody that’s gonna be really spectacular and maybe for many years to come. He’ll be very good, so we’re very happy about that,” Trump added.

More about Johnson: The lawmaker has been a vocal supporter of Trump and was a key congressional figure in the failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election. An attorney with a focus on constitutional law, Johnson joined a group of House Republicans in voting to sustain the objection to electoral votes on January 6, 2021.

During Trump’s first impeachment trial in January 2020, Johnson, along with a group of other GOP lawmakers, served a largely ceremonial role in Trump’s Senate impeachment team.

Senior Republicans tell CNN they are growing increasingly confident that Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana could clinch the speakership on the first ballot of today's round of voting, as all the different wings of the party quickly rally behind him and, so far, no one has vowed to oppose him on the floor. 

Republicans are being driven right now by an overwhelming desire to put on united front and leave these tumultuous three weeks behind them.

Remember: Johnson became the fourth Republican to secure the GOP nomination for the speakership late Tuesday evening. Emmer was nominated earlier in the day, only to then exit the race after failing to lock up the necessary votes to win the gavel, following Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

Ohio Republican Rep. Warren Davidson described speaker designee Mike Johnson as a "brilliant" but "very wonky guy" who won the support of the GOP conference by laying out a concrete plan for his colleagues.

Davidson added that Johnson presented a plan "to get all of our appropriations bills done, not just a giant omnibus," and emphasized that the Louisiana Republican has no strong opponents in the conference.

On the other hand, Davidson said, Majority Whip Tom Emmer — who dropped out of the speaker race Tuesday just hours after being nominated by the conference — "is widely liked, but it was like, 'well what is the plan to get this done?' The dialogue on that wasn't bringing everybody together."

Davidson attributed his party's three-week-long endeavor to elect a speaker to its slim majority in the House.

Davidson added that he is "excited" about Johnson's nomination, saying that a House GOP led by Johnson would not accept President Joe Biden's supplemental in whole. He also expressed optimism that Congress will be able to avoid a government shutdown next month.

Remember: Congress faces a November 17 deadline to avoid a government shutdown but without a speaker, the House cannot pass any bills, including the necessary spending legislation.

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie said Wednesday that he will vote for speaker designee Mike Johnson after voting present Tuesday night.

Massie was among three holdouts who didn't back Johnson during the last vote. Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei, another holdout, also shared Wednesday that he will now vote for Johnson.

Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations committee who would have to work with the eventual House speaker to avoid a government shutdown, told CNN that she doesn't know who speaker designee Mike Johnson is.

Remember: Congress faces a November 17 deadline to avoid a government shutdown but without a speaker, the House cannot pass any bills, including the necessary spending legislation.

Republicans’ House speaker morass continued Tuesday with a little help from former President Donald Trump.

Yet another lawmaker with support from most House Republicans – Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, who was picked as their party’s nominee – failed to get the support of nearly all Republicans. He dropped out of the running Tuesday afternoon, leaving Republicans again back at square one. Late Tuesday, the GOP conference selected a fourth nominee, Rep. Mike Johnson, who faces a floor vote Wednesday.

Emmer, who supports military aid to Ukraine and who voted to certify the 2020 election, saw his chances fade in the most bizarre possible way hours after being picked.

Trump lobbied against Emmer with a social media post that hit while Emmer was trying to convince a few dozen skeptics on Capitol Hill and Trump was inside a New York courtroom facing civil fraud charges. Trump later told reporters outside the courtroom, “It looks like he’s finished.”

After one fired speaker and three failed candidates who got majority but not universal support, no one seems currently capable of uniting their tiny House majority – and the idea of getting help from Democrats remains, for now, unthinkable to both Republicans and Democrats.

A picture of parties divided: It’s a situation that highlights not only Republican divisions, but also the bright line between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill.

But it’s important to note that it was born of a fringe protest meant to demonstrate there’s no difference at all between the two parties.

What is "uniparty?" The term “uniparty” has been a favorite of people like Steve Bannon, the former Trump White House official turned podcaster. He’s been using it for years in conjunction with the similarly cynical idea of Washington as a swamp that needs to be drained or the belief in a deep state that needs to be rooted out.

Bannon’s goal is to mobilize support for dismantling the current version of the US government.

The term also features prominently in the more-conservative-than-Fox-News media environment – networks like One America News, known as OAN, and Salem Radio.

Read the full analysis here.