By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Eastern Kansas Congressman Jake LaTurner says he’s just grateful the United States House has a Speaker and can get on with its business.
LaTurner, a Republican, says that after several weeks of uncertainty, the Republican Caucus found the right Speaker in Mike Johnson of Louisiana.
“Mike Johnson is a good man. He’s a conservative. He’s sincere,” LaTurner tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “And I’m really hoping that Republicans are going to be able to stick together, because listen we just have one-half of the Congress and we have a different point of the view than the White House and the Senate and the only way for us to be successful is to hold together on things. I’m hopeful that that will happen.”
LaTurner says he never favored the move to oust California Congressman Kevin McCarthy as Speaker.
“I was not one of the eight that voted to oust McCarthy,” LaTurner says. “I supported Steve Scalise. I supported Jim Jordan. I supported Tom Emmer and I support Mike Johnson. These are all good people. All of them would have done a good job at managing the House.”
LaTurner says Johnson, though, was the one who could gain enough votes on the House floor.
LaTurner has been impressed with how Johnson has handled after being pressed into service.
“I think he’s done a wonderful job of laying out in an articulate manner the conservative position,” LaTurner says. “But then also saying, hey listen, we know that we have one-half of the Congress and we know we have to work with Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer. So, he has a willingness to do that. We can’t compromise our principles, but we can absolutely come together to get to work for the American people which is what they hired us all to do, I think.”
LaTurner says it’s important now for the House to get back to business, especially with work on the budget.
Johnson won election as Speaker of the House with a 220-209 vote, with a few absences.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.