News Alert: House rejects Greene’s bid to oust Speaker Johnson

The House of Representatives firmly rejects Greene’s bid to oust Speaker Johnson

The House of Representatives quickly passed on Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bid to oust Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday afternoon.

After a few days of discussions with Johnson, Greene moved late Wednesday to force a vote on a motion she made in late March to remove Johnson. Her call, which reportedly surprised Republican leaders, was met with loud boos and jeers from her colleagues in the House.

House leaders technically had two days to schedule a vote on Johnson’s future, but they didn’t wait and instead immediately moved to table or reject Greene’s motion.

In the 359-43 vote, 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats voted to save Johnson’s job. Only
11 Republicans and 32 Democrats voted against rejecting the motion, while seven Democrats voted “present.”

After the vote, Johnson called Greene’s efforts a distraction. He emphasized that the speaker “serves the entire House of Representatives” and that the country needs a functioning Congress. “Hopefully this is the end of the personality politics and frivolous character assassination that have characterized the 118th Congress,” he said. “It’s unfortunate, it’s not who we are as Americans and we’re better than that.”

Greene made her request after the House cast one of its final votes of the week, approving a one-week extension of Federal Aviation Administration programs that were set to expire Friday. She also continued despite former President Donald Trump’s push against it, including in a social media post on Wednesday.

“With a majority of one, soon to grow to three or four, we are unable to vote on a repeal motion. We may be at some point, but now is not the time,” he wrote, urging party unity while also writing that he loves Greene. Trump added: “Mike Johnson is a good man who tries very hard. I also wish certain things were done in the last two months, but we will do them together. It is my request that Republicans vote for “THE MOTION ON THE TABLES.”

What’s next: Earlier in the day, House Republican leaders canceled Thursday’s votes, meaning lawmakers could leave a week after business concluded Wednesday. Congress doesn’t have a lot of urgent legislative work to do right now. As

The Washington Post This morning he remarked: “There’s not much left to do before the election anyway. Aside from the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill currently being debated in the Senate, all bills yet to be passed have been finalized or likely will not be passed until after the election.”

But Greene’s request shows how Republican infighting and political intrigue could continue as the election season becomes increasingly heated. Only 180 days left!

Biden promotes economic policy – and corrects a well-known failure of Trump

President Biden underscored his “Invest in America” ​​economic strategy on Wednesday during a visit to the site of a Microsoft data center being built in Racine, Wisconsin – the same place where former President Donald Trump in 2018 announced the development of a $10 billion Dollar high-rise welcomed. Tech Foxconn facility that never came to fruition.

Microsoft, which bought the little-used site in 2023 for $50 million, said it plans to spend $3.3 billion by the end of 2026 to build a facility to support artificial intelligence. According to the White House, the project will create 2,300 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs upon completion.

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda aims to grow the economy from the center out and bottom up, giving Americans more breathing room and unlocking hundreds of billions of dollars in private sector investment in industries of the future , including AI, clean energy, semiconductors and more,” the White House said in a
opinion.

Microsoft President Brad Smith credited the Biden administration’s policies on infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing and climate change as a foundation for investments like the one announced Wednesday. The tech giant will work with a local technical college to train people for the data center and business leaders to work in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence. “We will train over 100,000 people in Wisconsin by the end of the decade to have the AI ​​skills to fill the jobs of tomorrow,” Smith said
said.

Biden welcomed the recognition as he took aim at the Trump administration’s “trickle-down” policies, which he said had failed to revive U.S. manufacturing. “Folks, during the previous administration, my predecessor made promises that were broken rather than kept, leaving many people behind in communities like Racine,” Biden said. “Foxconn turned out to be just that – a fraudster,” he added. “They dug a hole with these golden shovels and then fell in.”

The future of Biden’s politics: Biden has approved more than $1.6 trillion in spending to boost U.S. computer chip manufacturing, infrastructure repairs and clean energy production. But the bulk of those funds have yet to be disbursed, raising questions about the future of Biden’s efforts as Republicans expand their power in the fall election.

Accordingly
Politicos Jessie Blaeser and Kelsey Tamborrino, the federal government has committed to spending about 17% of the money allocated in Biden’s four major bills, including the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, totaling about $300 billion. Actual spending was lower, between $125 billion and $186 billion.

One reason spending is well below target levels is that it takes time to select recipients of targeted loans and grants and then more time to negotiate the terms, Blaeser and Tamborrino say. “For example, states that want federal funding for electric vehicle chargers must first create plans for how the money will be used. For large infrastructure projects, recipients typically have to do the work before Washington reimburses them. This lengthy process can take years,” they write.

Politically, this could be a problem for Biden. Because most of the funds have not yet been spent, fewer people have seen the positive impact of the spending than would otherwise be the case, limiting the potential electoral momentum among voters at the ballot box. And a Trump victory in November could mean much of the planned spending will be cut or even eliminated, effectively ending Biden’s grand experiment in industrial policy for the 21st century.