On Wednesday, Congress finally reopened. After more than three weeks without a speaker, the elevation of the previously obscure Mike Johnson of Louisiana to lead the House was a signal that finally the chamber could get back to governing. In the next day, members forced votes next week on two resolutions of censure and one of expulsion. In other words, things aren’t getting less weird anytime soon.
But they won’t be returning to the status quo under former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, either. There will now be a new normal as Congress has to deal with pressing issues. The government will shut down at midnight on November 18, Israel and Hamas are at war after the horrific attack Hamas launched on October 7, much of Ukraine is still occupied by Russia, and lawmakers are grappling with how to address the near-record numbers of undocumented immigrants entering the country.
The House will face this new normal with a weak speaker in a scenario that one veteran Republican insider compared to “Lord of the Flies” after the defenestration spree of the past three weeks that led not only to McCarthy’s ouster but to Republicans electing and then rejecting three speaker-designates in turn.
Pat Fallon of Texas expressed the hope that Johnson — whom he praised as having “a lot of likability, a lot of authenticity, he is honest, he’s talented”— would be successful. In his view, “if Mike Johnson succeeds, America succeeds. You know, we have a functioning House and a functioning government. We have a divided government, so nobody’s gonna get everything they want. But, you know, we need some conservative wins to make sure that the taxpayers’ money is well accounted for.”
Then again, it could be argued under those circumstances that McCarthy’s debt ceiling deal in the spring was a win, as Republicans won spending caps and permitting reform in exchange for allowing the United States to pay its debts for the next 18 months. The result prompted an…
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