Mike Johnson survives razor-thin vote to remain US House Speaker
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jannat Jalil, and in the early hours of Saturday, the 4th of January, these are our main stories. In a nail-biting vote, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, who's been backed by Donald Trump, narrowly holds onto his job. President Joe Biden blocks the takeover of America's third biggest steelmaker by a Japanese company. Hamas says that indirect negotiations with Israel have resumed in Qatar for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages.
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The tech giant Apple agrees to pay a settlement of $95 million after users accused its virtual assistant Siri of spying on them. We begin in Washington at the U.S. Capitol.
The Honorable Mike Johnson of the state of Louisiana, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 119th Congress.
where the Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives managed to snatch the narrowest of victories from the jaws of defeat. There was confusion on Friday, as it seemed that Mike Johnson, who's been backed by US President-elect Donald Trump, had lost the vote to remain in his role, with a handful of Republicans in the lower chamber voting against him or abstaining. But then after huddled discussions, nearly all of them changed their minds, giving Mr Johnson 218 votes, the lowest possible number for him to be re-elected to his post. After the vote, he took to the House floor.
What we're proposing now is just simply, as President Trump likes to say, a return to common sense. And he's exactly right. That message resonated across the country. I am very thankful, personally, that this body is filled with men and women who are committed to that change, to return to common sense. We can do this together. We should. It is our responsibility to do so.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called on both Republicans and Democrats to come together and promised that his party would work to find common ground with Republicans.
The American people need us as their elected representatives in this season to put down our partisan swords and pick up bipartisan plowshares. It's time for us to come together not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans.
Our correspondent in the Capitol building, Rowan Bridge, told me more about the vote.
I think if there was confusion around it, it was because there had been a vote, but the vote hadn't officially been announced. And so what you had is people were totting up the numbers as the voting was going through and going, ah, Mike Johnson, I can't win here. But then before the vote was officially announced, there was clearly some arm-twisting and back-scratching going on on the floor of Congress. And that was enough to win over two holdouts. And those two holdouts then voted in favour of Mike Johnson. And that... Then when the vote came to be announced, he had enough votes to carry the gavel and to hold on to the speakership.
And do we know how those dissenting Republicans were persuaded to change their minds?
Yeah, I mean, we've heard from one of them and they said that they were given commitments around spending, which is a big thing for some of those conservative Republicans who are concerned about the levels of public spending in the United States and also about making sure that they can pass Trump's sort of America first agenda. But also worth noting, like in the drama of that vote at the beginning, there were some Johnson critics who effectively sat on their hands. They didn't vote at all. And then as it came towards the end of the vote, they did end up voting for him. But I think that was them telegraphing, hey, listen, don't take us for granted going forward. You're going to need us for some of these votes.
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Speakers
22 identified
Janet Jalil 7 min
Imran Rahman-Jones 3 min
Anise Ramili 2 min
Michelle Fleury 2 min
Sinead Butler 2 min
Unknown 2 min
Rowan Bridge 2 min
Evan Davis 2 min
Miranda 1 min
Andrew Peach 1 min
Sebastian Usher 1 min
Mike Thompson 1 min
Will Ross 1 min
Steve Rosenberg 1 min
Siri
Hakeem Jeffries
Mike Johnson
Isabella Bull
James Menendez
Karine Jean-Pierre
Congress Official
Julian Marshall
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