By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves praises the job House Speaker Mike Johnson has done after assuming the role in wake of Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.
Graves, a Republican, says Johnson inherited the same small faction of Republicans who drove McCarthy from the speakership.
“See, the unfortunate part is there are people on the Republican side and there are people on the Democrat side that would rather blow the process up than govern,” Graves tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “That’s what’s unfortunate, because Congress is suppose to govern and that takes compromise.”
Graves says with such a slim majority, Johnson has had to navigate very rough political waters.
“But this idea that it’s all or nothing is what’s the problem,” Graves says, referring to some of his fellow Republicans. “And when you have as thin a margin as Speaker Johnson has, or as Speaker McCarthy had prior to that, it makes it very, very tough to do the job, to govern.”
Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz led a successful effort to remove California Congressman Kevin McCarthy from the speakership. Gaetz, who complained McCarthy compromised too much with President Biden and Democrats, relied on 208 Democrats along with only seven Republicans to pass a motion to vacate the Speaker’s chair. Republicans scrambled to promote a successor, finally settling on Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who had served as the vice chair of the House Republican Conference.
Congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene failed in a similar effort against Johnson, who she called “pathetic, weak, and unacceptable.” An overwhelming majority of the U.S. House voted against Greene’s motion.
“You know, it’s unfortunate that they have to deal with this, but I think Mike is doing a good job and I support him,” Graves says.
There are 218 Republicans and 213 Democrats in the United States House with four vacancies.
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