House elects new speaker, ends chaos

Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday ended weeks of tumult that left Congress with one working legislative body by electing Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana as House speaker.

Johnson swept on the first ballot with support from all Republicans. The 51-year-old social conservative is little known outside Congress and is said to have few foes, but he has an important GOP backer — former president Donald Trump.

"Congratulations to (Representative) Mike Johnson," Trump said in a post on Truth Social, adding that Johnson will be a "GREAT 'SPEAKER'".

Johnson is a strong ally of Trump. He defended the then-president during the impeachment hearings and opposed certifying the 2020 election of Joe Biden.

A constitutional lawyer, he wrote a brief, offering a legal justification for trying to overturn the 2020 election and recruited House Republicans to sign a legal brief rejecting the election results.

In a statement, President Joe Biden congratulated Johnson and said the GOP needed to "move swiftly to address our national security needs and to avoid a shutdown in 22 days".

Johnson, who was a political dark horse just the day before taking the highest position in the lower chamber, promised to reach across the aisle despite his differences with House Democrats to address challenges the country faces.

Johnson said Republicans would "dispense with all of the usual ceremonies and celebrations" and get to work.

"You're going to see an aggressive schedule in the days and weeks ahead."

In his first address to Congress as speaker, Johnson said that he will bring to the floor "in just a little while" a resolution in support of Israel.

After Israel, Johnson said addressing the "broken border" will be the second priority of House Republicans.

After 22 days and four nominees, the Louisiana representative won a 220-209 tally to become the 56th speaker. All Democrats voted for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

As speaker, Johnson will have to confront the same challenges that felled Kevin McCarthy and stymied his would-be successors.

Congress faces a mid-November deadline to keep the government funded. In a letter to his colleagues, Johnson proposed advancing a temporary spending measure until either Jan 15 or April 15, while working to advance eight of 12 individual annual appropriations bills that have not yet cleared the House.

Lawmakers also will have to deal with the flow of migrants at the US border.

Agencies contributed to this story.