Mike Johnson, who is now the new House Speaker, was elected by his fellow Republicans after three failed candidates. He is best known for defending former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the election. Before working in Congress, Johnson was a lawyer who successfully defended a same-sex marriage ban in Louisiana. He strongly opposes same-sex marriage and introduced a bill in 2022 that would have banned schools from promoting or discussing gender identity.

On top of that, the new speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has only 6 years of experience working in the House of Representatives. And his controversial ideas on topics like abortion and wanting to ban it nationwide can cause trepidation in the people that he represents.

While the two-week honeymoon is over for the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, time is running out for Congress to reach a deal to keep the government from shutting down. The last avoided government shutdown cost Kevin McCarthy his job, so the stakes are high. The new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, is feeling pressure from both sides to find a deal in just under 4 days. Mike Johnson’s proposal includes no budget cuts. This is great news for Democrats who oppose budget cuts, but it also means more possible government shutdowns in the future. There is much at risk from a government shutdown.

Some of what is at stake is pay for military and government workers. While social security and medical checks still go out. The new and untested plan Speaker Johnson is trying to push is a two-step approach, which entails parts of the government getting funded until January 19 and then funding the rest of the government through February 2. Some key pieces absent from the plan were military aid to Israel and Ukraine as well as spending cuts. Speaker Johnson can only afford to lose 4 votes, and he already has 3 House Republicans that oppose his plan.

The earliest they can vote is Tuesday, but because the bill doesn’t involve spending cuts, many Republicans oppose it. Democrats and Republicans are going to need to find bipartisanship to be able to avoid a government shutdown.