Washington, Oct 25 (IANS): Republican Speaker nominee Mike Johnson, vice chair of the House GOP conference, is set to take his fight for Speakership of the House of Representatives floor on Wednesday. However, he is unsure which way the vote will go for him to secure the vital 217 votes to secure the Speaker's gavel as 20 Republicans were not present at the vote that picked Johnson as nominee.
Johnson, who rose in the ranks of the Louisiana legislature to come to the House, is the 4th nominee of the GOP to face the acid test on the house floor on Wednesday as Democrats are in no mood to cooperate with the republicans effort to elect a new speaker to replace Kevin McCarthy, ousted early this month.
Johnson served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 2015 to 2017. He was elected twice without opposition, according to media reports.
While in the Louisiana House, he was appointed vice chairman of the state House Judiciary Committee and to the Select Committee on Leadership.He proposed a controversial bill in 2015, named the Marriage and Conscience Act,that some saw as discriminatory to the LGBTQ community, according to a media report.
Johnson, who serves as the House GOP conference vice chairman, secured the nomination for the speakership late Tuesday evening on a chaotic day that started with the GOP picking Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer to be their nominee after the Jordan fiasco.
But hours later after a face-off with the house conference's right flank and a rebuke from former President Donald Trump that he did not support him in the election denial , Emmer, chief whip of the Republicans in the house, also dropped out of the race.
The day ended with a vote to elect a new nominee – this time, Johnson won. But 20 Republicans were absent in that vote.
The House has remained paralysed on the speakership issue for almost 22 days as of Wednesday with three Republican nominees prior to Johnson unable to win over the holdouts and Trump's loyalists.
US President Joe Biden's $105 billion proposals to fund Ukraine and Israel militarily and with humanitarian aid is stuck .
Uncertainty also looms over if the government can remain open to fund federal agencies after November 17 as the 45-day deadline pushed by ousted speaker Kevin McCarthy expires.
The GOP conference is facing the heat from conservatives in the House and Democrats as the House remains paralysed without a Speaker.
Republicans have been unable to unite to choose a common candidate to replace Kevin McCarthy following his historic ouster.