Mike Johnson has been elected to be the speaker of the House after not having one for three weeks. It was left vacant for so long after Kevin McCarthy was removed on October 3rd by the hard-right section of the Republican party after McCarthy voted on a temporary funding bill to stop the government shutdown.
As newly elected House speaker Johnson has already passed a big bill to cut down on climate change funding. The $58 billion budget has been rescinded $5.5 billion for the Inflation Reduction Act, $4.5 billion for homeowners to switch to energy-efficient appliances, and $1 billion for grants to help states make more stringent building energy codes.
Mike Johnson was born in Louisiana and is the older of his four siblings. Prior to entering Congress, he worked as a lawyer, mainly dealing with religious freedom issues, and successfully defended the same-sex marriage ban in 2004. In 2015 he was elected to the Louisiana Statehouse and ran for Congress in 2016. Johnson currently represents Louisiana’s fourth congressional district which also happens to include his hometown.
As a conservative, he is best known for his defense of Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Being a former constitutional lawyer, he signed an amicus which is a person permitted to provide the court with information or insight on the topic at hand.
Johnson opposed same-sex marriage which was seen in his defense in 2004 and when he introduced a bill in 2022 to ban schools from promoting or discussing gender identity, but was never passed. Another thing he opposes is the right to abortions where he stated in a discussion to overturn federal protections for it a “Great, joyous occasion.” He also refuses to send Ukraine aid to defend themselves against Russia.
Gabe Silvano and Aden Gestoso, seniors at ERHS were asked what their thoughts were on the subject.
“I’m glad the House finally has a speaker as my mom has a government job which could have affected us if it shut down,” Silvano said.
“I don’t know how I feel about him as I don’t know much about his ideals,” Gestoso said.
