House of Representatives gets back to work with new Speaker Mike Johnson

Geoff Bennett:

It was back to business on Capitol Hill today.

New House Speaker Mike Johnson spent his first full day meeting with the Australian prime minister, who's in town, and later President Joe Biden. That's as major tests of Johnson's leadership await.

Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins is here to walk us through what's ahead.

So, Lisa, Speaker Johnson has been on the job for one full day. He already faces a potential government shutdown in just three weeks. What do we know about what his speakership means for the chances of avoiding a federal government shutdown?

Lisa Desjardins:

There are some early good signs that one can be avoided here.

One, as you said, Johnson did speak with President Biden in person today at the White House. We will talk a little bit more about that later. Relationships so far are cordial. Lawmakers are trying to build relationships, and so is he right now.

But another big sign, Geoff, is that he knows that a stopgap or a continuing resolution funding bill might be needed, and he actually sent a memo out to Republicans, a dear colleague letter, yesterday.

And I want to highlight one part of that letter. He wrote: "If indeed stopgap funding is needed," he wrote, "I would propose a measure that expires January 15 or April 15."

In other words, the new speaker is immediately getting behind the idea of a temporary funding bill, which is not something that the rest of his conference has always backed. But talking to Republicans today, most of them do like this idea. They're worried that something worse would happen, a giant omnibus bill at the end of this year, if they don't have a temporary bill.

However, there are some, like Representative Matt Gaetz, who I talked to today, still not on board that idea. If there is a shutdown issue, it would be with that group of people. We will watch it closely. But Speaker Johnson is trying to get past November 17, create a path.

Geoff Bennett:

Let's talk more about Johnson and his policy stances.

As you told us yesterday, he's a staunch conservative. And it's striking that his election as House speaker is being celebrated by the people who helped oust Kevin McCarthy. What more have you learned about his background?

Lisa Desjardins:

That's right.

This is what conservatives love about him. He is hard right. He is a social conservative. As I said yesterday, he opposes abortion in almost every case. He opposes gay marriage. He has in the past. He opposes gender-affirming care for kids. Those are things conservatives love, but those are things that those on the left are very fearful of. They think that that is exclusive.

Now, when you look at his issue, where he is on guns, we want to look at that today, particularly in light of what's happened in Maine. It's a conservative stance that he's well-known for. The NRA has backed him, donated to him. He has received thousands of dollars in donations from the NRA and other gun groups.

He has opposed in the past universal background checks. And he's also opposed things like reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. That, I want to talk about specifically. The reason that he opposed that and some other conservatives is because it would have put more restrictions on those who are found guilty or accused of domestic violence, more restrictions on gun, the ability to use and carry guns.

And that's why Speaker Johnson voted against it. So that's the kind of thing, that the right likes as saying pro-Second Amendment, and the left says is going too far.

Geoff Bennett:

And we should say that the Senate, the Upper Chamber, has been working during what had been this prolonged period of House Republican dysfunction.

What's the latest with this funding bill that links Ukraine aid and aid for Israel?

Lisa Desjardins:

Let's go through all of the funding requests that are out there. They're all important and they're very big.

So this is so far what President Biden has outlined that he would like Congress to pass, $61 billion for Ukraine, for helping Ukraine, as well as $14 billion for Israel, $14 billion, in addition, for the Southern border. And then, in a separate request — this is new from Laura Barron-Lopez, who was passing this on to us yesterday — $56 billion for domestic needs.

That includes disasters, fighting fentanyl, and childcare, some other things. All told, it's about $161 billion that the president is requesting. Talking to senators and Senate leaders, they are behind the Ukraine and Israel money right now. They're probably going to keep those two things together. I think we will start to see some action as early as next week, perhaps, in committee there.

But keeping that together, the Ukraine money, has a very long shot. It's going to be very difficult in the House. One other factor, I want to talk about Democratic Leader in the House Hakeem Jeffries. How is he going to work with this man?

He was asked today about what he knows about Mr. Johnson. Here's what he said.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY):

I found him to be an able and capable adversary, from the standpoint of the authentically held positions that he would articulate, even when there was strong disagreement on our side of the aisle.

But there were also opportunities where we were able to find common ground, including on criminal justice reform.

Lisa Desjardins:

It's an interesting moment. That bipartisan agreement on criminal justice reform is an exception.

Generally, Speaker Johnson has not worked with Democrats, but there is hope right now. There is also concern. He is — has been an election denier. We have talked about that. I think we're going to talk about it more. And I think it's a moment where both sides are testing and waiting to see what he is like as an untested speaker, and hasn't even been in Congress that long.

Geoff Bennett:

Lisa Desjardins, thanks so much.

Lisa Desjardins:

You're welcome.