The Speakership of the House of Representatives will be up for a vote on January 3rd, and current Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) could be ousted by discontent Republicans, according to Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) in a weekend appearance on Fox News, who said Johnson was "pretty darn close" to losing the gavel.
More to the point, Rep. Biggs said, "Two members [of Congress] have said they are not going to vote for him. One said under any circumstance he is not voting for Mr. Johnson."
As a result, he continued, "For Mike to become Speaker again, he is going to have to have everybody else, and there is a lot of discontent, particularly with what happened last week in the spending fight."
Rep. Biggs further noted that "we did that kind of spending fight three months ago, and then three months before that, and it just continues on and on, and maybe things were not done as openly and transparently. We were promised no omnibus bill; last week's first bill sure looked like an omni[bus]. We were promised no last-minute deal on the eve of Christmas, and that is what happened. I mean, there are a lot of things that people have disapprobation with Mr. Johnson about, and so he is going to have to assuage a lot of those concerns if he is going to become Speaker again."
The host asked if President-elect Donald Trump's endorsement of Johnson would settle the bubbling tension among House Republicans, as a protracted fight could potentially jeopardize the certification of his Electoral College victory on January 6th.
The Arizona Congressman agreed, as "January 6th is the X Day for us. We have got to make sure that that goes as smoothly and perfectly as it can as we rev up and get ready to go."
Thus, Biggs asserted that "Johnson has got to get together and determine whether he is the guy who can really deliver on [Trump's] agenda, and there are some important things on that agenda. I mean, you have got the reconciliation bill you want to have up there as close to President Trump's swearing-in, which is January 20th, as possible."
"So the question is, is Mike Johnson capable of doing it? I mean, there are a lot of people who feel that he is not, but I am getting back to your original point: I do think that the way President Trump comes in or does not come in, or whether he stays silent, all of those are signals to the members of the conference," Biggs concluded.
On Monday, Trump announced his endorsement of Johnson, saying on Truth Social, "Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard-working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement."
