House Democrats Have All The Power And Control Mike Johnson's Fate
House Democrats have outmaneuvered Republicans since the beginning of this Congress, and with Mike Johnson on the brink, the endgame is here.
The Daily is a completely reader supported newsletter. You can see each day in your inbox what subscribing to The Daily gets you. You support us, and we work to help you become better informed in the fight for democracy, so if you can, please join us by becoming a subscriber.
Republicans Are In Disarray
The House Representatives is the most straightforward piece of the American system of governance. The people directly elect their representatives to the House every two years, and the House is governed by a simple majority.
There is no 60 vote rule, or filibusters, or way for the minority party to have power. The party that has the majority has the House. In a normal Congress, the House will pass a lot of legislation, and then sit and watch as the Senate works through its slow and deliberative by design process.
In 2024, we are not living in normal congressional times.
On CNN, Rep. John Geramendi (D-CA) explained that Democrats as the minority have all the power in the House.
Geramendi told CNN’s Jim Acosta:
The power in the House of Representatives is with the Democrats everything that needs to be done Ukraine aid, humanitarian support Taiwan. All of that will be done by the Democrats as it has been done, vote after vote here. The Republicans simply cannot manage themselves, let alone the fundamental issues.
We will pass hopefully very, very soon. maybe today, maybe Saturday assistance for Ukraine and it will be done with a majority of the votes being Democratic votes. Similarly, the aid for humanitarian assistance in Israel as well as Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific, all of that. Republicans are in disarray. They can cannot get the job done themselves, as to Speaker Johnson his future is really dependent upon the Democrats.
Video:
When Speaker Mike Johnson decided to put a Ukraine aid bill on the House floor, he made official a reality that has been well known since the Republicans couldn’t elect a speaker when they took over the majority.
The minority is really in charge of the House.
We’ll talk about what that means and why Democrats might keep Mike Johnson around below.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Daily to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.