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In a 215-209 vote, the House of Representatives approved a rules package that makes it more difficult to remove the Speaker of the House.
“A rules package that will make it harder to remove the House speaker was passed in the chamber along party lines on Jan. 3. The 215–209 vote happened hours after Republicans handed Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) the gavel, entrusting him with steering the party’s historically narrow majority,” The Epoch Times wrote.
“Under the rules of the previous Congress, a single member of either party could force a vote on a motion to vacate the speaker. The new policy not only increases that threshold to nine members, but also stipulates that those members must be from the majority party,” it added.
House Votes to Protect Speaker in Approving New Rules
A rules package that will make it harder to remove the House speaker was passed in the chamber along party lines on Jan. 3.
The 215–209 vote happened hours after Republicans handed Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) the gavel,…
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) January 4, 2025
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) was re-elected as House Speaker on the first vote Friday.
Johnson received 218 votes, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) tallying 215 and 1 for “other.”
Late switches from prior holdouts appeared to give Johnson the needed votes.
“Mike Johnson re-elected House speaker on first ballot as GOP mutiny threat dissolves,” Fox News wrote.
WATCH:
BREAKING: Mike Johnson re-elected House speaker on first ballot as GOP mutiny threat dissolves pic.twitter.com/N3K7EOefga
— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 3, 2025
The Epoch Times reports:
Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) said the majority is simply exercising its right to make rule changes.
“I know it’s been a while since they’ve been in the majority, but when you win the majority, you do have the opportunity to make the rules,” Houchin said.
The “motion to vacate” change was the result of intraparty negotiations between two of the GOP’s most prominent factions—the conservative Freedom Caucus and the more centrist Main Street Caucus.
The Freedom Caucus was instrumental in securing the previous one-member requirement in 2023 in exchange for allowing former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to become speaker. That deal was McCarthy’s undoing, paving the way for his ouster later that year.
Johnson survived a similar challenge last May, and in the run-up to Jan. 3, it appeared he might not have the votes to secure reelection. But with the help of President-elect Donald Trump, he managed to sway two of three final holdouts to change their votes and elect him as speaker.
House passes rules package that makes it harder to remove speaker https://t.co/D9DF0QbX5h
— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) January 4, 2025
From POLITICO:
The package’s adoption was not without its GOP critics: Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) previously objected to the inclusion of language that would consider a bill to impose sanctions over any International Criminal Court action against people like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“How did a bill to protect Netanyahu make it into the House rules package to be voted on immediately after the speaker vote?” Massie asked on social media. “Where are our priorities?!”
The decision to raise the threshold for ousting a speaker was first reported by POLITICO last fall.
Among the other changes in the rules package is language that would limit votes on suspensions measures — an expedited process requiring two-thirds support for passage — to just Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. House lawmakers have recently used that procedure on days later in the week, like Friday, to pass a short-term government funding bill.