President Biden said Wednesday he isn’t worried that newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson will try to thwart his second term if he wins reelection in November of next year.
Minutes after House Republicans elected Mr. Johnson as speaker, a reporter asked Mr. Biden whether he was worried about the 2024 contest, given the Louisiana Republican’s support for election challenges after Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020.
“No,” Mr. Biden said during a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Mr. Biden said the American democratic system and its courts worked last time, and will again.
“Every time they lost,” he said of GOP rivals. “I understand the Constitution.”
Mr. Johnson won the gavel in one round of voting, and his election unlocked the House floor for business for the first time since October 3, when a group of conservative hard-liners pushed out Speaker Kevin McCarthy, California Republican.
Mr. Biden later congratulated the speaker in a formal statement.
“As I said when this process began, whoever the speaker is, I will seek to work with them in good faith on behalf of the American people,” Mr. Biden said. “That’s a principle I have always held to, and that I’ve acted on – delivering major bipartisan legislation on infrastructure, outcompeting China, gun reform, and veterans care.”
At the same time, Mr. Biden drew a contrast between the GOP majority’s dithering over a speaker and his push to support overseas allies and fund federal operations.
“While House Republicans spent the last 22 days determining who would lead their conference, I have worked on those pressing issues, proposing a historic supplemental funding package that advances our bipartisan national security interests in Israel and Ukraine, secures our border, and invests in the American people,” he said. “We need to move swiftly to address our national security needs and to avoid a shutdown in 22 days. Even though we have real disagreements about important issues, there should be mutual effort to find common ground wherever we can.”
Mr. Johnson, 51, who took office in 2017, was serving as the vice chairman of the conference, a relatively obscure and low-level leadership position when he became the last, best nominee for House Republicans who have been fighting for weeks over who should lead them.
• Susan Ferrechio, Kerry Picket and Alex Miller contributed to this story.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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