One of the first duties of any Congress after a presidential election is to formally certify the results and declare who will be the next president and vice president of the United States.
However, that normally routine procedure could be put on hold for weeks or even months if the House of Representatives cannot elect a new speaker when they return to Washington on Jan. 3.
According to a report from Newsweek, current Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing an insurrection from hardline members of the GOP caucus, and that could seriously complicate matters when the lower chamber of Congress is supposed to certify the 2024 balloting three days later on Jan. 6.
Representative Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) told Fox News, “If we have some kind of protracted fight where we can’t elect a speaker—the speaker’s not elected; we’re not sworn in. And if we’re not sworn in, we can’t certify the election.”
And that concern was echoed by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY).
“To ensure President Trump can take office and hit the ground running on January 20, we must be able to certify the 2024 election on January 6. However, without a speaker, we cannot complete this process,” Tenney fretted.
House Democrats are also not going to cross the aisle and try to save Johnson, according to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who told MSBC’s Jen Psaki, “There will be no Democrats available to save him or the extreme MAGA Republicans from themselves based on the breaching of a bipartisan agreement that reflected priorities that were good for the American people.”
What would happen in such a scenario? Joe Biden would remain as president until the House manages to elect a new speaker. And you can bet Trump will kick and scream in rage if his inauguration, which is scheduled for Jan. 20, is delayed for even a second.
