Biden congratulates Johnson on speakership and vows to ‘govern across the aisle’

President Joe Biden has congratulated the new House speaker, though he also pointed out what his administration has been up to in the time it took Republicans to elect one.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) ascended to the speakership via a unanimous vote of House Republicans, ending a three-week impasse that threw the chamber into chaos. Biden said he looks forward to working with Johnson.

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“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,” Biden said in a prepared statement released Wednesday afternoon.

With Democrats controlling the Senate and the White House, the House has been a thorn in the side of Biden thanks to its GOP majority. The president pledged to work with House Republicans nonetheless.

“I restated my willingness to continue working across the aisle after Republicans won the majority in the House last year,” Biden said. “By the same token, the American people have made clear that they expect House Republicans to work with me and with Senate Democrats to govern across the aisle, to protect our urgent national security interests and grow our economy for the middle class.”

Alex Brandon/AP

Johnson won the gavel after surpassing the majority threshold needed to secure the gavel, beating House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) 220 to 209. Johnson was able to clinch the speakership on the first round of votes, unlike his predecessor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who went 15 rounds before becoming speaker in January.

Biden didn’t resist the temptation to point out the contrast between his administration’s actions and those of the House GOP over the last three weeks.

“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. “These priorities have been endorsed by leaders in both parties.”

Johnson was elected by the full GOP caucus but will immediately face several impending challenges, such as a slew of spending bills just three weeks ahead of a scheduled government shutdown. Johnson has already unveiled an ambitious timeline to pass the House’s remaining appropriations bills before the Nov. 17 deadline.

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In addition to calling for bipartisanship, Biden directly invoked the immediate issue of the shutdown and the need to avoid it.

“We need to move swiftly to address our national security needs and to avoid a shutdown in 22 days,” the president said.”Even though we have real disagreements about important issues, there should be mutual effort to find common ground wherever we can.”