AILSA CHANG, HOST:
With a new Congress kicking off today in a first step to a newly Republican-controlled Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson has been reelected to his job in relatively short order. Johnson beat expectations that an unruly wing of his Republican conference would derail those plans, and he says it's time to get to work.
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MIKE JOHNSON: This is a powerful new coalition of our country. It's a coalition that insists that we purge the policies of America last, and we bury them in the graveyard of history's mistakes because it was a big mistake.
CHANG: Several of Johnson's GOP colleagues had threatened they might defect, but they fell in line. Joining us now is NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales. Hey, Claudia.
CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK. So just a few hours ago, many were not sure if Speaker Johnson would get reelected, much less on a first ballot. I mean...
GRISALES: Right.
CHANG: ...Just two years ago, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy went through, like, 15 rounds before he got the gavel. What's different here?
GRISALES: Donald Trump.
CHANG: Ah.
GRISALES: It's clear that this unruly wing of the House Republican conference known as the Freedom Caucus and their allies have read the room. And they're signaling that they know there's a new sheriff in town, and they know Trump will take office within weeks and exert all of his available resources to make the lives of any of his opponents miserable. This is a shift in a short amount of time from what we saw in December, for example, when Congress passed a stopgap spending measure. That is, many House Republicans were willing to defy Trump's interest when it came to a budget issue, but in this case, only one member held their ground when it come - when it came to saying no to Johnson as speaker.
CHANG: Yeah. So who was this holdout, and how did Johnson pull it off?
GRISALES: Right. This holdout was Thomas Massie of Kentucky. We had a lot of warning that he was going to stick to his no. And Johnson could only lose one Republican, so that's what he did in the end. Traditionally, this is a vote that should just last a matter of minutes. Each member's name is called out. They shout out their candidate for speaker. And several members of the House Freedom Caucus made Johnson sweat it out, however, so they did not respond when they were called. And only three - Massie, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas - were noes. That triggered a series of negotiations off the floor, extending the time for this first-round ballot to more than an hour before Johnson was finally able to flip Self and Norman to yeses, sealing the deal.
CHANG: Phew. All right, meanwhile, even House Republicans were facing tight margins in both chambers. We didn't see drama anywhere at this level in the Senate, right?
GRISALES: Right. Correct. The new Senate majority leader, John Thune of South Dakota, began his role today pretty easily. But we should note, he just needed support from a majority of his conference rather than the near party unity that Johnson required in the House. And Thune was the Senate's longtime GOP whip to former leader Mitch McConnell. He's considered a moderating voice in the party and has been on the opposite side of many debates from President-elect Donald Trump numerous times. However, Thune endorsed Trump late in the presidential race last year, and he's become a growing ally to the incoming president.
CHANG: OK, so what's on tap now that everyone's done with the housekeeping?
GRISALES: Well, after his reelection, Johnson said the American people have asked for a thriving economy, a rebuilt middle class, a strong military. He made clear the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration will get tackled first. And he said this wasn't a partisan plan but part of a patriotic duty. Though this is all part of a mission to keep Republicans on the same page, and along the way, they'll face plenty more tests ahead.
CHANG: That is NPR's Claudia Grisales. Thank you so much, Claudia.
GRISALES: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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