Live updates as House prepares to vote for speaker and new Congress begins today

Capitol officials have beefed up security as the new Congress prepares to convene Friday, the first of several high-profile events on Capitol Hill in the coming weeks. Congress will meet on Monday, January 6 to count the votes of the Electoral College and determine Trump’s victory. Former President Jimmy Carter will also remain in state at the Capitol next week, with the inauguration scheduled for later this month.

Temporary fences have been erected around the Capitol’s perimeter in recent days, and law enforcement agencies such as the Capitol Police and the Secret Service are coordinating on security. The Department of Homeland Security designated the Jan. 6 election vote count as a “special national security event” after the 2021 attack on the Capitol, providing a greater level of coordination among federal agencies.

On Capitol Hill, Johnson was asked about the possibility of Rep. Chip Roy becoming chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee, as some of Johnson’s detractors have suggested.

“I’m not making deals with anybody,” Johnson replied.

Trump offered good wishes to Johnson on Social Truth before the House met to appoint a new speaker. The president-elect endorsed the Louisiana Republican’s bid to keep the gavel on Monday.

“Good luck today to President Mike Johnson, a great man of great ability, who is very close to having 100% support,” Trump said. he wrote. Johnson is expected to have the votes of most House Republicans, but no Democrats are expected to support his bid.

He added: “A win for Mike today will be a huge win for the Republican Party, and another recognition of our most consequential presidential election in 129 years!! – A GREAT AFFIRMATION, CONGRATULATIONS. MAGA!” he wrote

The Speaker of the House is elected by the entire house, not just by the party that controls it.

Republicans won 220 seats in November, but Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who was tapped to lead Trump’s Justice Department and then retired, has said he won’t take his seat, giving Republicans a 219 to 215.

Johnson will need 218 votes to win the presidency if the remaining 434 members are present and voting. That means that without any Democratic defections, Johnson can only afford to lose a single vote.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, said he will vote for someone other than Johnson, citing the speaker’s handling of the government funding battle. Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, said he is undecided about his vote and doubts Johnson has enough support.

But abstentions or members voting “present” could tilt the math in Johnson’s favor by lowering the threshold he needs to win. And no viable alternative has emerged that could win the support of the Republican conference, leaving Johnson’s detractors without a backup candidate. Johnson also enjoys the support of President-elect Donald Trump, who of course has enormous power over the party.

Johnson met with members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus on Thursday as his bid for the presidency hangs in the balance.

He left the meeting looking confident he will keep the hammer and said his talks with the Tories were “going well”. He also predicted that the vote would go “smooth”.

Several conservatives were seen entering Johnson’s Capitol office, including Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, which has questioned Johnson’s leadership. Other attendees, including Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Victoria Spartz of Indiana, have said they are undecided.

Read more here.

With new control of both houses of Congress, Republican leaders are touting a list of priorities they intend to tackle quickly, particularly on immigration and taxes.

Exactly how Republicans will act remains to be seen. Earlier this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson laid out plans to move the GOP agenda through the budget reconciliation process, which allows them to waive a 60-vote threshold normally required for to the legislation in the Senate. But reconciliation is a tricky maneuver that comes with its own limitations on what can be included in a final bill.

Johnson, who faces his own speaker election on Friday, said a reconciliation package will be “the key to the first 100 days” but noted it will require “a lot of coordination, planning and executing these plans precisely “.

“We’re going to fix the border,” Johnson said Monday on Fox News. “We’re going to get the economy humming again. We’re going to restore our stature on the world stage, we’re going to fix our energy policy, we’re going to make sure we don’t have the biggest tax cut in US history foisted on the northern people -American at the end of next year when the Trump-era tax cuts expire.”

Republicans in Congress have touted their alignment on the issues, saying they have a mandate from the American people to deliver on Trump’s “America First” agenda. Still, a unified vision of how to move forward with priorities has appeared murky as the new Congress begins.

“We have a lot on our plate,” Johnson said. “But I’m sure we’ll be able to do it.”

Read more about where Republicans plan to start here.

Johnson won the gavel in October 2023 after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, was ousted after nine months. It was the first time in history that the House voted to remove the speaker.

McCarthy became speaker in January 2023 after a marathon 15-round vote that delayed the swearing in of House members by several days. To win, McCarthy eventually gave in to conservative demands, including allowing a single member to trigger a vote of no confidence to oust the speaker.

The decision came back to bite McCarthy after he struck a deal with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown. Gaetz introduced the motion to impeach McCarthy and, along with seven other far-right Republicans and all Democrats, ended his term as president.

It took three weeks for Republicans to unite behind a candidate. After three high-profile members failed to overcome opposition within the party, Johnson emerged with unanimous support among Republicans and won on the fourth ballot.

Conservatives have repeatedly threatened Johnson with a similar fate after he relied on Democratic votes to pass legislation, including spending bills to keep the government running and foreign aid. Democrats saved Johnson last May from a far-right effort to remove him from office.

The antics of the far right have angered their colleagues and provoked an agreement raise the threshold for forcing a vote on impeachment of a speaker to nine members of the majority in the new Congress.