Mike Johnson negotiated to change a key House rule to avoid meeting the same fate as Kevin McCarthy

Mike Johnson was re-elected as speaker of the House of Representatives. The Louisiana Republican will hold the gavel until at least 2027 and managed to negotiate a major change in House rules to try to ensure he does not have to leave office early.

In January 2023, when Kevin McCarthy negotiated with a group of conservatives in order to be elected speaker of the House, he gave in to a series of concessions. Among them, the most striking concession was to reduce the number of lawmakers needed to initiate a motion to impeach the president.

The negotiation resulted in the agreement that a single legislator, either Democrat or Republican, would be needed to initiate the vote to remove the gavel-bearer. That's actually how Matt Gaetz succeeded in removing McCarthy in October 2023.

In order not to follow in the footsteps of the former California congressman, the Speaker of the House negotiated to increase the threshold of congressmen needed to initiate a vote to remove him. This process is known as a privileged resolution to declare the Speaker's office vacant.

Johnson negotiated that for the 119th Congress that number would increase to nine lawmakers, thus making his removal less likely.

"Their proposed changes would, for the first time in American history, shield the Speaker from accountability to the entire chamber by making it so that only Republicans can move to oust the speaker," Congressman Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, said of the change.

"This makes it clear that they have no intention of working together to find common ground. Instead of electing a Speaker of the House, they have decided to elect a Speaker of the Republican Conference—held hostage by their most extreme members," he added.

Johnson received the gavel from the hand of Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, and then delivered a few words in front of all the legislators present. Among a variety of other things, he referred to the mandate given to them by the voters to move forward with Donald Trump's legislative agenda.

"In recent months, we’ve witnessed something happening, something that’s really remarkable — a political moment in our modern history. A groundswell of Americans from every state, race and religion who now demand that we put the interests of Americans first again. And we will," he said.

The president-elect celebrated the election of Johnson, whom he endorsed days earlier, on his Truth Social account.

"Congratulations to Speaker Mike Johnson for receiving an unprecedented Vote of Confidence in Congress. Mike will be a Great Speaker, and our Country will be the beneficiary. The People of America have waited four years for Common Sense, Strength, and Leadership. They’ll get it now, and America will be greater than ever before!" he tweeted.