WASHINGTON D.C. (WWLP) – The 56th speaker of the House has finally been sworn in, after Kevin McCarthy was ousted by House Republicans three weeks ago.
After 3 weeks of leaderless chaos on Capitol Hill, and four Republican nominees, Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana has been sworn in as the 56th speaker of the House.
Johnson, has been a member of Congress since 2017. Political Consultant Anthony Cignoli, tells 22News, “He was an election denier for 2020, he’s got hardline conservative positions on everything across the board. One of the question marks here is going to be, “does he have the chops? The ability to legislate?”
Over the 21 days it took to fill the speaker’s seat, concerns were being raised about the impacts it would have on U.S. Foreign Affairs, as well as dealing with issues here on American soil like the migrant crisis.
“The other thing that has been at stake, so many key pieces of legislation,” Cignoli adds. “For us in western Massachusetts, the Farm Bill, that was supported by Congressman Neal and Congressman McGovern. That is something that has been held up, and in fact everything else has been held up.”
As Congress tries to recover from weeks of inaction, Cignoli tells us they are now racing against the clock to get more legislation done, and to get their act together, to avoid another potential government shutdown. The deadline is November 17th.
President Biden says that he looks forward to working together with Johnson to find common ground on behalf of the American people.
Kristina D’Amours is a reporter who is a part of the evening 22News team. Follow Kristina on X @KristinaD_WWLP and view her bio to see more of her work.
