Mike Johnson Wins Reelection As House Speaker In Dramatic Vote To Open New Congress

Rep. Mike Johnson was officially sworn in as House Speaker once again Friday afternoon after a dramatic re-election vote. Johnson then administered the oath to all members of the 119th Congress.

What to know about the House speaker vote

1. Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana won reelection as speaker of the House on Friday, emerging victorious after a pair of GOP members switched their votes to deliver him a majority and open the 119th Congress.
2. Johnson needed 218 votes to secure the gavel, and at first appeared to fall two votes short. He huddled with allies and conservative members for about an hour as he seemed headed for defeat. 
3. A dramatic scene played out when two of the holdouts — Reps. Keith Self and Ralph Norman — eventually approached the dais and switched their votes, putting Johnson over the top. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the only remaining Republican defector.
4. After the vote, Self and Norman told reporters they spoke to Johnson and President-elect Donald Trump, who stressed the need for party unity. They both said Johnson reassured them that he would fight to advance Trump's agenda with Republicans in control of Congress and the White House.
5. A multi-round speaker's election threatened to derail the first day of the new Congress, but Johnson's victory allows the GOP majority to move on to other matters, including the counting of the Electoral College votes on Monday, Jan. 6.
6. Trump endorsed Johnson earlier this week, boosting his candidacy after some conservatives expressed doubts about his ability to lead the GOP conference.

Here are all the updates from a chaotic day on Capitol Hill:

Johnson says "there were no deals cut"

Johnson said he took "suggestions and requests from all members on process reforms" but "there were no deals cut" to secure the gavel. 

"We made no deals to anyone, no quid pro quo for anybody on any position or anything at all through the entire — I haven't done that in 14 months and I was not about to start today," he said. 

The Louisiana Republican said he was "100%" confident that he will remain speaker throughout the entire 119th Congress. 

House votes to adopt new rules; raises threshold to make ousting speaker more difficult

The House voted 215 to 209 to adopt new rules to govern the lower chamber for the next two years. 

House Republicans released their proposed rules package on Wednesday, which included a number of changes to the rules that governed the House during the last two years. 

In an attempt to avoid some of the chaos that plagued the Republican majority in the last Congress, Republicans raised the threshold to force a vote on ousting the House speaker to nine GOP members. The previous threshold was one member. 

Leadership unveiled a new package Friday that added, "The Speaker may not entertain a motion that the House suspend the rules except on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays." Under suspension of the rules, House leaders can bring legislation to the floor without going through the Rules Committee, where a handful of conservatives have blocked legislation from advancing in recent years. The procedure is often used to fast-track legislation that has bipartisan support since it requires two-thirds of the chamber to pass. The new rules would prohibit that from taking place on Thursdays and Fridays. 

The package also eliminates the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, restores "family-centric language" and authorizes subpoenas of Attorney General Merrick Garland and other Justice Department officials as part of Republicans' investigations into the Biden family. 

It also changes the name of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and renames the Office of Congressional Ethics to the Office of Congressional Conduct. 

Norman: Johnson gave "assurances" that he would "fight"

Rep. Ralph Norman, the other GOP holdout, confirmed that he spoke with Trump before switching his vote, and received "assurances" that Johnson would "fight."

"We had a talk with President Trump. We got in there — I never know how this stuff's going to come out. I didn't know how people were going to vote," he told CBS News. 

"Mike gave us his assurances he's going to fight for the things we think are important to the country," he added. "And was it worth taking another hour? Yes. And so, I'm excited with the way it came out, and Mike is too."

Johnson says he told holdouts they can "hold me accountable"

Johnson spoke to a group of reporters at the Capitol and described his conversations with Self and Norman, the Republicans who switched their votes.

"I told them they can be assured that we're going to have different processes and procedures this time around, because it's unified government, and Republicans have control of the Senate and the White House and the House, so it's a very different situation than last Congress was, and they can hold me accountable for that," the speaker said. 

"We're going to have a member-driven, bottom-up process for the development of this really important legislation. And we must succeed, we have no margin for error. So, that's all it was. No promises," Johnson added.

Johnson confirmed to CBS News that he spoke with Trump while the speakership vote was being held open. Trump's message, Johnson said, was: "Get united."

Self says he had a "lively conversation" with Trump

Rep. Keith Self, one of the two initial Johnson holdouts, told reporters that he spoke to Trump "before and after" his vote. He declined to discuss many specifics, but said, "We shored up the reconciliation team, because we know that this will be a heavy lift to get the Trump agenda across the line in the reconciliation package." 

"We shored up the negotiating team. That's all we did," Self said.

Republicans hope to use the reconciliation maneuver to advance much of Trump's agenda in the coming months. But doing so is complicated and requires coordination between lawmakers in both chambers and the White House. 

Self replied "yes" when asked if the reconciliation negotiating team would now include some Freedom Caucus members and be more "member-inclusive."

"I was very frustrated with the 118th Congress, and that's why we needed to shore up the processes to make it more member-oriented for the Trump agenda, because we needed more input from members like myself, not a chairman, not [those] in a leadership position, and I think that's what we have done," Self said.

House Freedom Caucus outlines "sincere reservations" about Johnson, listing demands

Eleven members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus wrote a letter to their Republican House colleagues explaining that they have reservations about Johnson despite backing him for speaker. The group outlined a list of demands that they urged Johnson to address.

The members — Reps. Chip Roy, Ralph Norman, Scott Perry, Andy Harris, Andy Biggs, Clay Higgins, Michael Cloud, Andy Ogles, Eli Crane, Eric Burlison and Andrew Clyde — wrote that they voted for Johnson "because of our steadfast support of President Trump and to ensure the timely certification of his electors" on Jan. 6. But they added that they did so "despite our sincere reservations regarding the Speaker's track record over the past 15 months."

They said Johnson should have committed to keeping the House in session for more days, and ensured that any reconciliation package reduces spending and the deficit. They also stressed that Johnson should have guaranteed that members can offer amendments on legislation and abide by a rule giving them 72 hours to review legislation before a vote, and stop relying heavily on Democratic support to pass key legislation. 

"Now, Speaker Johnson must prove he will not fail to enact President Trump's bold agenda," they continued. 

The group said legislation that comes before the chamber should work to "fully secure the border," cut spending significantly and reverse Biden administration policies like student loans forgiveness and electric vehicle mandates. They also argued that legislation should not increase the federal borrowing limit before "real spending cuts are agreed to and in place," among other things. 

"Personalities can be debated later, but right now there is zero room for error on the policies the American people demanded when they voted for President Trump — the ones necessary to save the country," the group wrote. "We demand the House of Representatives deliver — quickly."

Members are sworn in to kick off 119th Congress

Johnson administered the oath of office to all House members after he made remarks and was sworn in. There are 434 members, including Johnson, and one vacancy left by Matt Gaetz, who resigned after he was asked to join the Trump administration. Though Gaetz withdrew from consideration to be attorney general, he also decided not to take his seat in the 119th Congress.