NM representatives react to new Speaker of the House

The U.S. House of Representatives elected Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson as speaker Wednesday after seeing four other Republican candidates fail to be voted in in the past three weeks.

The three members of New Mexico’s delegation in the House, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-1), Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-2) and Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-3), held a joint press conference Thursday to weigh in on Johnson’s election.

Leger Fernández

“What do we know about Mr. Johnson, our new speaker? We know that he supports the nationwide abortion ban. He’s an architect of the effort to overturn the 2020 election. He’s repeatedly called to privatize Social Security. He voted against keeping the government open three weeks ago. He won this position after almost a month of chaos and turmoil where moderate Republican candidates were quickly derailed and Marjorie Taylor Green, Matt Gaetz or former President Trump spoke against them.

“Speaker Johnson’s extreme proposals would hurt New Mexico and the country. His conference pushed a bipartisan agricultural appropriations bill that would cut funding to 2007 levels. How can a mother feed her kids with a budget from 2007? They want to take food from the mouths of babies and children and income from the pockets of our local farmers and ranchers. Their agricultural proposal would also cut funds for electric co-ops that would raise energy prices for about 268,403 residents in New Mexico’s third district. These kind of proposals are bad for New Mexicans. Speaker Johnson’s conference would cut essential investments in American children instead of making sure that the richest corporations and individuals pay their fair share in taxes. They will defend the rich and powerful corporations where we Democrats push to bring down the costs for our New Mexican families, like bringing down health care and drug costs.“However, it is a new page, and we are hopeful. We urge the new speaker and the Republicans to abandon their extreme ideas and instead work on a bipartisan fashion with Democrats to pass laws that actually help New Mexico communities.”

Stansbury

“We are here today on the 22nd day since the former speaker was uncseated by extremists in the House GOP, and after 19 rounds of votes this year for a speaker, the House GOP has finally reelected a new speaker to reopen the House. I think it’s important for folks to understand that Mike Johnson does not represent a departure from the chaos and the extremism that we’ve seen from the GOP over the last 10 months, but in fact, a new chapter and possibly a more extreme version of what we’ve seen today. In fact, if you look at Mike Johnson’s record, he was, as Congresswoman Ledger -Fernandez said, an architect of Trump’s efforts to steal the 2020 election. He has been an ardent election denier. He was part of the team that defended Donald Trump in his first impeachment and his illegal activities while sitting in the presidency. And he’s also been an anti-LGBTQ + and an anti-abortion advocate his entire career. We are deeply troubled by the election of Mr. Johnson, and we are fearful about what kinds of policies he will bring to the floor over the coming months.

“But what is also important is to understand that New Mexico’s delegation has been united in our efforts to reopen the House, to try to chart a bipartisan path forward, and to ensure that we continue to serve the people of New Mexico. And so we are here; we are going to work every single day now that the House is reopened to address the needs that we know every single New Mexican is facing right now.”

Vasquez

“I do just want to remind folks that this is the Republican’s fifth choice for Speaker. So, you know, we’ve been through it for the last three weeks with so much chaos and dysfunction here, and the best they could do was their fifth choice for speaker. And so instead of accepting the Democrats’ olive branch and choosing to work side-by-side with us on a bipartisan basis to reopen the House, Republicans chose extremism and chaos. And this is nothing new. This is what we’ve seen out of what is now the MAGA Republican House. We know who is still in control. Now, Mike Johnson has all of the same extreme elements as Jim Jordan did, perhaps with less name recognition.

“I just want to remind folks in New Mexico that Mike Johnson is an election denier. He wants to cut Social Security and Medicare, which would deeply hurt seniors in all three of our districts. He has anti-reproductive rights, and he’s cosponsored several bills banning abortion nationwide without exceptions. He also authored the federal “Don’t Say Gay” bill, cutting funding for the FBI and law enforcement. He thinks climate change is a hoax. And he believes that January 6th was a peaceful protest.

“Now, during a very important time when we need to support our allies overseas, he’s also somebody that has voted against aid for Ukraine and voted for a government shutdown. And so as the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson is, and should be, expected to follow the principles of unity, of cooperation, of effective governance. However, his positions and his extremist and controversial agenda since he’s been in Congress show us that instead he’s more interested in promoting division.

“The American people deserve better. They deserve leadership that’s willing to work across the aisle, that reflects our values all across this country and in New Mexico, and that advances policies that will truly improve the quality of life through some very trying, both domestic and international, times.

“And so in a closing, in a very divided government, bipartisanship is still the best way forward, both to fund the government and this upcoming budget fight that we’re going to have internally that’s going to require us to work together and to tackle the key priorities like lowering the cost of goods for New Mexicans making sure that we’re growing the middle class making sure that we don’t cut social programs like SNAP and food safety for our most vulnerable populations and that we keep Social Security and Medicare intact.”