to turn at all. he has said you could put bamboo under my fingernails and i am not going to vote for mike johnson, so i think he is pretty much settled. as far as the other two, self and ralph norman, there are efforts outside the chamber to change the mind, but it is still open. it hasn't gaveled into go to the second ballot. but you wonder what is happening behind the scenes. sandra? >> sandra: absolutely. looking through just five hours ago, the president-elect donald trump sounding very optimistic as he endorsed mike johnson earlier, put out a truth social statement k saying good luck today to speaker mike johnson, a fine man of great ability who is close to having 100% support, a win for mike today will be a big win for the republican party and yet another acknowledgment for our 129-year most consequential presidential election, a big affirmation indeed. maga. i have not seen any reaction yet

from the president-elect based on what we are seeing right now, although, bret, that could change in the next few minutes as we continue to watch this play out and we could get another round of speeches here shortly. >> bret: yeah, as we start the 2:00 hour on the east coast, "america reports," i am bret baier in for john roberts, sandra in new york, good to be with you. this is history. we are watching something that is not happening, despite the wishes of president-elect trump. he made clear and was even making phone calls today to some of these so-called undecided republicans. thought that they had some headway with at least some of them, but as you see the three other there, those are three lawmakers, massie, norman, himself, who voted for people other than mike johnson, and he needs to get -- needed to get to 218, the magic number of the 434 in the u.s. house chamber. he is short of that.

they are holding that open right now but it does appear they are going to go right to a second ballot and perhaps we will start to hear nominating speeches very soon. let's bring in mollie hemingway, fox news contributor, editor in chief of "the federalist." molly, your 30,000-foot view of this and whether this is a dysfunction whether this is something that is part of the process, what is your thought? >> this is what democracy looks like in the lower chamber. it is entirely likely that johnson will be made speaker today. you have donald trump to thank for that, donald trump has pushed hard for him to be speaker and he does not want this mess before his inauguration, he wants everything to go as smoothly as possible, but you do have some of these holdouts who also have a concern about whether johnson can actually deliver the republican agenda they are hoping will be delivered in the next two years. legitimate concern in part

because of how johnson has handled his speakership for the last year. i don't think a lot of republicans are terribly enthusiastic about what has happened legislatively. usually johnson is pretty good about getting bills passed with more democrat support then republican. they would like to see much more aggressive action taken in support of the type of attitude that led to the last election. the only time they really have leverage is right now so yes, it is frustrating for people to see this, they want johnson confirmed and they want us to go through without any glitches but the only time these people will have any leverage is really right now so if they want changes to the budget process, they want assurances about concerns about the deficit, if they want to revisit the issue where mike johnson said he would not get more funding to ukraine until the border was closed, this is their only time to demand things like this for the next two years unless these holdouts do a motion to vacate in the next two years, this is

what this is about. they will be negotiating before the next vote in the hopes they can come to a resolution. >> sandra: what we are hearing from you almost anticipated or expected this outcome at least the first time around. >> it is still very close. keep in mind three holdouts is not that many people, it just matters a great deal because of how narrowly divided the house is. a lot of conservatives would say the reason why the house is so divided his republicans did not really give voters much of a reason to vote for republicans in the house. they would like to see a dramatic change in house speaker johnson handles issues and shows leadership. they have found him to not be as strong as they would like him to be. they think partly the narrow division in the house is how he handled his leadership the last year. >> bret: there is some color here from the floor again, aishah hasnie down there saying, you know, they are trying to get the members back on the floor

but there are folks wandering all over the place. remember i mentioned at the beginning this is a celebratory kind of thing, so they bring their family members there, so there is members family members to reporters and they are chatting to things and trying to get it going again. to your point, mollie hemingway, it is messy but ev, eventually t there, but two of the three have to vote for johnson to get to the magic number. let's bring in james freeman, "wall street journal" page assistant editor, fox news contributor. james comey your thoughts on this moment and what it means big picture? >> yeah, i think the speaker is probably hoping, as mollie said commode only three people, you can focus on persuading them. he is hoping in the next round of voting not only that he is selected, but if he is not, it is not a different three people because then you start to worry about how large is this

coalition of dissatisfied members. speaker gingrich was talking about the difference between his time and now and one big difference is the federal debt is so much larger than it was. i think that issue really is driving this. the speaker allowing the really big bill in the closing months now, either signed or headed to the president's desk to shorten the life of social security solvency by giving a big gift to government employees at different levels of government. i would imagine what is happening right now is those three members and perhaps others trying to extract spending cut concessions from johnson in order to vote for him.

obviously monday is january 6th. you want to be able to certify the election of president trump. that i think a lot of people look at as sort of the drop-dead deadline, are we going to have 15 rounds of voting? i don't know, maybe depends on the next one, but i would think by sunday night, the latest is when people want this resolved so they can go ahead and begin the new presidency. >> sandra: james, thank for joining our coverage. please to stick with us. we also bring in bill mcgurn, fox news contributor and "wall street journal" editorial board. this house speaker vote is set to move to a second ballot. we are getting color from the floor, lots of discussions, obviously marjorie taylor greene on the screen there, she has been working her phones on the e house floor. your thoughts on where this all goes next, bill? >> well, we are in place because of the loss of political physics peered when you have a narrow majority, you create

incentive for a few people to hijack the party and hold everyone hostage. when they say republicans have not got their act together, let's point oh it are three republicans. more than 200 people on the other side saying let's get sworn in, let's have our speaker, then let's get down to business to the american people, and three people who have no candidate and/or alternative candidate are just holding this up. it makes no rational sense from their own point of view. they have some legitimate complaints about spending and the processes, but i don't think the answer is to hobble your speaker. that happened to kevin mccarthy when he came in. he had this rule that they could remove him, kind of with one complaint, and so forth, and i don't think you can function as a healthy majority. now is the opportunity. also, the american people are watching this. they are not concerned about

narrow majorities. in their mind the republicans have the presidency, they have the senate and the house, so if things don't get done, they are going to blame the party, not these three guys. >> bret: just to kind of wrap things up here, we are it appears headed towards a second ballot. mike johnson has fallen short of the 218 votes needed in this scenario. uc hakeem jeffries with 215, the three others voted for other names, so johnson does full short once that is officially gaveled in which we expect as the members start filing back into the house chamber. mollie, it does bring to question, you are right to point out these folks are making a stand on principle, but it does bring to question about the agenda for the president-elect, soon to be president trump. eventually he is going to be

certified on january 6 and inaugurated on the 20th, congress has to get its act together to do all of that. but then the agenda and the question is how many bites at the apple can you do with this slim of a majority in the house republican caucus. >> president trump might be thinking a lot of his agenda can be done through the white house, and that is true but it can also easily be undone then the next time a democrat is in the white house. if donald trump wants to have a true legacy, it is not just going to be continuing his tax cuts, which will probably be able to get through this house and senate without too much problem. it will also be about implementing the changes suggested by d.o.g.e., this government efficiency commission that will be looking at major problems that we had with duplication or inefficiency in our agencies or problems with how the administrative state has taken over the rule making process in a way that has not helped out the american economy. well, in order to make those

things stick, you have to have that part of your legislative agenda. having a strong speaker and strong leadership able to push those things true is going to be important if trump will have a successful presidency. that is the one good thing about this mess we are seeing today. both sides actually seem to care about the agenda and they are not that far apart on the agenda. these holdouts might care deeply about the mass of the deficit spending, the way that we handled budgets, all of these issues, and they care about in more than anywhere else is, unfortunately, caring about it, but they are pretty aligned on the larger agenda issues. >> sandra: mollie, if you could stand by with us, james and phil, as well, much bring republican rep-elect pat fallon joining us now. not all republicans fell in line here. you show your support. why did not all republicans? what are you hearing and what is happening on the floor? >> well, right now we are in negotiations, really just talks, trying to understand why these

folks didn't vote for mike because in november we had a selection process within the republican conference, and mike was elected unanimously. by acclamation. we all gave our word we're going on the floor to vote for mike. there is really no specifics. listen, i empathize with the frustrations that this place can bring about, i get that part. but this is not the way to channel it. the way to channel it is to have republican unity and making sure every member has a voice. essentially we all have a veto, not just on who the speaker will be put on any major legislation moving forward. have to work together. or we are not going to get things done for the american people. >> bret: congressman-elect, bret baier here. have you talked to these three? what are they saying and do you have hopes they are going to be swayed somehow? >> bret, yeah, i have talked to two of the three and i'm cautiously optimistic.

but we are talking about is process. mike johnson is not going to make any tit for tat deals, not going to be any quid pro quo. we can talk about how we improve the process and make sure every corner of the republican conference feels like they are being heard and that they have input. but we cannot have three or four members vetoing everything constantly or eight, whatever it is, whatever the number is. having a task force on major legislation and making sure the different factions within the conference have seats at that table and hopefully that will be enough come i hope president trump is not only supporting mike but talking to some of the members that have reservations come and again this is a blanket, bret, that is a little wrinkled but we are smoothing it out. >> sandra: we appreciate that. you said you spoke to two of the three. is it fair to say you feel cautiously optimistic they will come around? >> i do. but i am a hopeful person. if you throw me out of a

60-story building, at the 40th floor i feel good. we can get there. if they are negotiating in good faith i do think you can get there. and i am hopeful they are. that is just to get attention, then we are just -- going to throw this entire process into a wood chipper because i'm voting for mike johnson and i am voting for mike johnson only. he is the speaker of the house, needs to be the next speaker of the house. he got our promise by affirmation in november so there is no alternative. so let's not get there. let's get these members and have their voices be heard, get together. we are a family, a disruption of family, we are a family. let's hug it out and move forward. >> bret: by the way, speaker-elect johnson now in a huddle including congressman massie, norman, and self, several other conservatives in the back come on the center aisle, i don't know if the

c-span cameras pan all over the place but there is a huddle in the back of the room. maybe we will catch that. i think we have it right there. and they are huddling now, talking. what do you think is that conversation, congressman elect? if you say the speaker to be is not going to make any quid pro quo deals? >> i think it is honestly, bret come about process. after talking here i'm going to be right in the middle of that huddle because i do encourage that, we should have a task force on major legislation and making sure freedom caucus members are heard, mainstream caucus are heard, the tuesday club, four or five major factions within the congress. they are all part of it. if we bring any legislation to the floor that doesn't have 99.9% of republicans, it is not going to pass, anyway, so we have to have people from cradle to grave on poured. >> sandra: would you care to share the two you are cautiously optimistic about?

>> no. [laughs] >> sandra: if you are standing in the middle of that huddle you arc returning to any moment, what is your message? >> i think the message would be mike has an incredible difficult job. it was divided government. i think the expectations for some of the members were, to be fair, too high, but now we are unified government, let's do a task force on major legislation come as i mentioned a few times in this discussion, and have their voices be heard. they were a little upset about the debt limit, 34, 34-30 republicans voted no, that it was in the past and the last congress, let's move forward and do it in a way in which all the voices are and respected. >> bret: last thing really quickly, we are looking at a team jeffries on the floor peered what you tell people about why democrats seem to have a better ability to herd the cats, if you will, to be able to hold everybody, even in the tightest of majorities. is it different mentality of

individualism, as we look at massie talking to marjorie taylor greene? >> democrats are easier to her -- republicans are big giant liens on the serengeti and it is hard as hell to get us to swim in the same direction. look at what the democrats did with covid, wearing their masks and weren't going to church and doing whatever the government told them. if you had a question authority every once in a while, but we can do that questioning, we can have our discussions, and then we need to go out together, unified, as a team. there is a locker room and what you do on the field. we can have our discussions in the locker room, but on the field, we have to be moving together. >> bret: congressman-elect fallon, we appreciate you. >> sandra: we will let you get back to the huddle. coral, we have not heard your voice in a little bit. you have been watching and joining us throughout. representative elect donalds was

just speaking a moment ago, who did receive a vote to become the next speaker in all of this. he was asked about whether or not that is something he is interested in and he said "no, i think right now we are working in getting this cleaned up, hopefully this gets results pretty quickly." he said it's a dealmaking town, so make deals and make deals and figure it out and live to fight another day. that is his recommendation in this moment. karl? >> well, i think pat fallon put his finger on it, you've got to instill a sense of teamwork. think about this. i don't know if you can see the whiteboard. i've got a whiteboard. the holdouts represent 1.4% of the republican caucus. and none of them, massie, norman, or self, has really considered a significant player, legislative leader. there is no big bill they have been connected with, no record of significant legislative experience.

massie is a libertarian, likes going to the beat of his own drum. norman has been there for i think almost eight years, elected in a special election in 2017. again, no real significant record. self is a freshman -- excuse me, a sophomore member to be. always interesting to me i suspect norman and self are the ones that pat fallon was alluding to as he was optimistic about. self and fallon come from the same part of texas and represent part of the same republican county north of dallas, colleton county, the former -- o represented part of that county. we are talking 1.4% of republican caucus saying we are in charge and we are going to in essence be voting with the democrats and keep this situation from being resolved, and that is not how a team wo works. >> bret: there is a bunch of

people wandering outside the chamber right now, karl. some people are grabbing some food. some people are with their families. it seems like these discussions are happening in the cloakroom just off the floor now. it is representative-elect self and norman w who are part of the discussion. marjorie taylor greene has been working the phones. we can't confirm whether that is to president-elect trump or not. she obviously had that phone connection before in various times. where do you think the president-elect is watching this, knowing he was working the phones earlier, karl, and he sees -- if you are going to say this is the republic exercising its right to this process, but it is also showing a bit of

dysfunction on republicans' side. >> well, i suspect he is a little bit irritated because he made clear his choice, and again, what reason has been articulated by any of these people, massie, norman, or self, as to why johnson shouldn't be speaker? i suspect he is a little irritated right now. massie is impervious to that kind of pressure. he has long marched to the beat of a different drummer, libertarian then republican, but other members are likely to have some heat back home. part of this is cajoling. part of this is encouraging. i hope it is not dealmaking because if this is what do i got to do in order to get your vote, you are going to start having other people lining up, saying maybe chip roy, for example, wanted to be made chairman of the rules committee. is he going to be on a second valid if there is a second ballot and starting to cut deals? is he going to now say you gave something to sell for norman to get their vote, what are you

going to get me? so i don't wait until the end and cast a vote for you at the end. in order to do that, have to have something. that is a dangerous path to go down, and i suspect the former president understands that and as the president to be he wants this over and over with quickly. the house is essential to getting his agenda passed into action quickly. he knows time is not on his side. no president and a second term has four years of unbridled joy and happiness. second terms tend to be problematic and challenging, and he understands, i suspect, 2025 is a year in which he has to get big things done. the border, tariffs, the tax cut, all the major elements that he ran on, he's got to have some legislative action this year, and it starts with having house speaker who is able to manage a small majority. >> sandra: thank you, karl. chad pergram joining us again.

chad, the happenings on the floor, huddles happening just off the floor in the back of the room. what can you tell us about how this is moving along? >> this is kind of what we expected to have happen if they didn't get a speaker on the first ballot, that mike johnson would have to have individual conversations with the members who were holdouts, and in this case you have ralph norman, the republican from south carolina and keith self the republican from texas. they went to the back of the house chamber into something called the cloakroom. the cloakroom back in the old days used to be where you put your cloaks, i don't know who wears a cloak except for dracula, maybe, but in the house parlance it is a dugout, kind of like baseball. where they go to put pined harder on the legislative bats, plot strategy, and that is why mike johnson has taken those two members to talk in the cloakroom close to t the house floor, see what they want and see if they can convince him. i think karl rove made a very important point a couple moments ago about making promises.

mike johnson the presumptive speaker of the house, the last congress, he indicated he was not going to make any deals so if he starts to make a deal here then that opens up pandora's box. this is where in a narrow congress you have potentially 435 joe manchins, meaning they can always in on every single bill especially on the republican side and say you want my vote on this, i want x or i want y and that is precisely what has happened on this speakers vote and that is why it is both beneficial to mike johnson to get the speaker's gavel to make a deal but could be a negative because it comes back to bite him later. this is exactly the trouble kevin mccarthy had. you go back a couple of years ago on the 15th ballot in the wee hours of that saturday morning, he made a deal with matt gaetz that he would keep the motion to vacate the chair to call for a new speaker at one vote. guess what happened to kevin mccarthy, come a few months later, nine months later? they called that. if we do ever get a speaker of the house today, they will

probably vote today or maybe tomorrow or monday on a rules package. what they have done is raised that bar up to nine votes. members of the majority have to be to call for a new speaker to vacate the chair, so that is not in play just yet. we don't think those are the things they are asking for necessarily, and this is where i come back to my lengthy conversation with ralph norman and some of that aired on special report last night, saying what is it you want? a lot of times when you talk to some of these members they can never tell you precisely what they want, and that has been the criticism, and this is where you start to get into this internecine warfare. if they don't elect a speaker come all of the mike johnson people are going to absolutely breathe fire at least three holdouts, or others because problem, members of the freedom caucus, what not. there has been a long, simmering, internal battle between these sites where they feel like they carry the water,

they vote for the appropriatione the money and support the speaker of the house, they don't cause mischief, and then it comes down to a handful of rabble-rousers, depending on the day, who want something, and again that does not bode well for trying to govern this small majority in the house of representatives, so again we are still waiting for them offensively to go to the second vote. i have been told the whip notices have gone out to both sides that they need everybody to get back onto the floor, and the other thing that you notice, a lot of people might be asking when they see the pictures, why are all of these kids on the floor? well, it is kind of a custom here at the capitol, especially among freshmen members, to bring their kids and their family, a historic moment, they never got to see a speaker elected when we were here two years ago going through the stance, and just off the floor, in the rayburn room, what i will tell you is set up, these photography stations. this is where you go in and get a mock swearing-in photograph with the speaker of the house.

well, they had that set up for five days two years ago and they never did get to do it. that is set up now because you don't know who the speaker of the house is going to be. they do the actual swearing-in on the floor and then they come and pose with their bible or whatnot and the mock swearing-in so they might not get to that today with the families, bret. >> bret: thomas massie on the floor talking to debbie dingell from michigan, democrat. our viewers may be familiar with. as you kind of pan the cameras, c-span allowed to use cameras inside the floor, catching some of these backroom, back chamber conversations that are ongoing, and we are told they continue to go on. bring back in mollie hemingway periods former speaker newt gingrich said a short time ago, contrarians done from america. trump does. there is a battle here about a message and foot this message is.

we talked earlier. to speaker gingrich's point, what do you say? >> that is the mood of many republicans in the country. they would like to see the house, senate, and white house all work together to do really dramatic action to help the country. it is also true, though, we are acting like congress is this august institution. it has a favorability rating of what, like 17%? americans are extremely frustrated with congress, not just a bloated spending, but also how they have turned over all of their work to the administrative state. they are completely unaccountable for how all of these bad things have happened in the recent decades, which is really congress voluntarily giving up its authority, and spending all this money, and hurting americans' lives in the process. we have to remember that congress really is a problem. we see we only have these three holdouts but it does occur to me that you had six people who were passing on the vote originally,

and that is significant because with the nine votes, that shows they have enough to do the motion to vacate, which does control so much of the house republicans conference here. those nine themselves could be representing more people. maybe these three people are the ones who can withstand the heat of actually taking this other vote, but there are a lot of people in congress who are just kind of sick of how things have been done in recent decades. they hear from their constituents about how frustrated their constituents are, and this is really the only moment of leverage they have, so when johnson is in there negotiating with the two people who are willing to negotiate here, those people might be representing not just themselves and their constituents, but really all the americans were frustrated with how congress is running things. they might be looking for yes, changes on who is running which committee or how bills are being passed, or promises on cutting spending, or just promises to actually achieve the trump agenda, as opposed to what happened in the last year which was a whole lot of nothing. >> sandra: thank you, mollie. >> bret: ralph norman back on

the floor. sorry, sandra. i want to say technically this is still open as you look at former house speaker, house speaker elect mike johnson, technically this is still open until they gavel it to end, he is back on the floor, self just but walked back on and we saw massie talking to debbie dingell. >> sandra: it sounds like some dealmaking has been happening, various reporting, some huddles have been had and some phones have been handed off, and they are reentering the room. we will see where this goes. i do know that byron york has just joined our coverage. byron, jump on in as we start to hear from some lawmakers shortly and some speeches as we head towards a second ballot. >> well, the republican party in the house has just voted 216-3 to make mike johnson the speaker, and johnson loses. it's a really crazy system.

i think one thing that is different from a couple of years ago, 2023, when you have the agony of kevin mccarthy, is the fact that donald trump is the president-elect. back in 2023, there was no republican president. there was no republican president-elect. there really wasn't a clear leader of the republican party. and now we know donald trump is that leader and that he wants mike johnson to be the speaker, so we have seen less, actually, opposition to johnson then we saw to mccarthy back in 23. >> bret: let me interrupt real quick, byron. congressman-elect norman and self are now in the front of the chamber. if they change their votes to johnson, see if we can listen.

[gavel sounds] >> the house will be in order. >> mr. norman, johnson. mr. self is recorded as donalds. mr. self, johnson. [applause] >> bret: with that, the majority is reached at 218. once this is gavel close, sandra, we will have a new speaker of the house for the 119 congress in mike johnson from louisiana. took a little bit to get there, but you see the celebrations on the house floor. >> sandra: we had a lawmaker on just a few moments ago who said he just chatted with two lawmakers who were among those

who voted for someone other than johnson, said he was optimistic. sounds like he had a pretty good conversation because this is obviously the outcome of that and there is probably a pretty elated speaker elect johnson walking back up the aisle there, bret. >> bret: let's listen in. i think we will get a gavel here as he is shaking hands with all the folks. we all know what the conversation was with ralph norman or keith self. that is nancy mace giving him a hug on the floor there. let's listen into the floor.

that is claudia tenney from new york with the hug there. everybody giving congrat congratulations, sandra. i am sure there will be a phone call soon from president-elect trump, who was working hard to make this happen on a first ballot. >> sandra: joining us now, mollie hemingway. we have been talking throughout, watching this happen, and this is how -- this is how this goes. pretty historic moment, as we saw the two lawmakers approach the front and change their votes to johnson. your thoughts, mollie? >> in ended up being kind of a thrilling moment to see these two guys go down and change their votes. it was a messy process. it was managed on the first vote but it was messy getting there. but that is really again what democracy is like. i think a lot of americans would like to see far more debate in the house than they have been seeing in recent decades about the issues that are confronting

america, and this might be the prologue of some interesting debates, as we have new and fresh ideas about how to improve our state of government, but i think mike johnson probably understands, too, that he needs to improve -- not that he hasn't done a completely capable job in the last year -- but that he needs to improve over what he has done and start getting more deliverables for republican members and their voters, and that will be much easier for him now that the senate will be under republican control and the white house, as well. >> bret: byron york, you were interrupted before. thoughts about this as we move forward on the trump agenda and what happens now as the certification of the election happens january 6th? >> i think this was the donald trump effect because he is the president-elect. he is wildly popular in the republican party. and any republican member of the house who is standing up against what trump wants has to answer

for that. >> bret: let's listen in. >> receives 218. [applause] >> sandra: well, that makes it official, right, bret? we knew the tally, they do unofficial tally had become 2 218-to 15, showing johnson should have the votes, it wasn't official until the clerk read it. >> receives 215. [applause] and the honorable tom emmer of the state of minnesota has

received one. [applause] therefore, the honorable mike johnson of the state of louisiana, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected speaker of the house of representatives for the 119th congress. [applause] the clerk appoints the following committee to escort the speaker elect to the chair. the gentleman from louisiana, mr. scully's. the gentleman from new york, mr. jeffries. the gentleman from minnesota, mr. ember, the gentleman from massachusetts, miss clark. the gentlewoman from michigan,

mrs. mclean. the gentleman from california, mr. aguilar. the gentleman from north carolina, mr. hudson, the gentleman from california, mr. lou. the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. hearn. the gentleman from colorado, mr. negus. the gentleman from utah, mr. moore. the gentlewoman from washington, miss delvin a. the gentlewoman from indiana, mrs. how chin. the gentleman from new york come mr. marelli. the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. russian taller. the gentlewoman from michigan, mrs. dingle. and the members of the louisiana delegation, mr. higgins, miss ludlow, mr. carter, and mr. fields. the committee will retire from the chamber to escort the speaker elect to the chair. >> bret: okay, so this is the formal walking in on the new speaker. he will deliver remarks at the front, so it is mike johnson as

speaker of the house, speaker and a squeaker, if you would, with the change of the two votes. he gets the needed 218 majority. chad pergram still with us, guys? check in with chad? >> here is what is going to happen in the next couple of moments, you heard them announce the escort committee, bipartisan. this will take five or 6 minutes to get everybody out in the hallway, get all of the members back because now they have elected a speaker, somewhere in the hallway getting sandwiches or going back to their offices are spending time with her family, they want to get everybody back to the floor. they will bring the speaker elect at this point into the house chamber. bill mcfarland, the sergeant at arms, will present him, they will bring him down to the well, at that point, they will present him and then hakeem jeffries, who is the minority leader, he will give a speech. it was a rather long speech that early saturday morning in 2023. he will then present the gavel

to mike johnson. mike johnson will then be sworn in by the dean of the house, that is a republican of kentucky, the longest-serving member in the house of representatives, elected in 1980, he will swear in mike johnson and johnson in turn will swear in the entire membership starting with 434 members and one vacancy unofficially the house of representatives can do business. the one thing we don't know whether or not they are going to approve the rules package today, where you go through and establish all of your different parliamentary rules for this congress, the senate is a continuing body and rolls over its rules, the house for the most part you have to go back and kind of recalibrate all of those, and the one to watch is the one provision that raises the bar to call for a vacancy in the speakership, call for a vote of confidence in the speaker essentially now up to nine votes. the biggest question everyone

will want to know right now is what speaker-elect johnson said to keith self and also to ralph norman in the cloakroom. what was promised. what was promised there that wasn't promised before? what was that conversation like? did they have to make a point about saying hey, i wasn't going to vote for you on the first ballot or something even though it was the first ballot, i was going to at least demonstrate my independence. but again, as i say, this is the problem as we go forth throughout this congress with that narrow majority that anyone, too, or three people can raise hackles and say hey, i want some thing here, throw a gearbox in the house of representatives. >> sa bret, martha? >> it is sandra. >> my apologies. >> sandra: it's okay. the 119th congress. just tuning in, it ended up happening. the record will reflect, right,

chad, in the first round, despite initiating that had to happen. >> haven't seen this happen this long on a first ballot. again, historically they are able to elect somebody on a first ballot. this didn't go up multiple ballots. 133 ballots with nathaniel banks in the late 1840s, that took two months. took 63 ballots in 1856. but a little bit of drama, nonetheless. we have had that increasingly in recent years with some of these speaker votes here periods keep in mind, then again mike johnson got precisely of votes he needed to get peered when nancy pelosi was the speaker of the house, she was able to get a vote right to that exact number. mike johnson did say repeatedly yesterday, he said i think we will lose one, and i think we will get it on the first ballot. well, those two things came

true. >> bret: pretty amazing, if you think about it, they prevented this second ballot, and maybe a third ballot, and whatever happened with those discussions, those members were convinced. the question now is, on big pieces of legislation, chad, to your point, you have to hold the line. the three who voted against johnson do have some power because they have exhibited the ability to stand up to the caucus. speaker gingrich said that it was crazy earlier in the show. as you see some family members taking pictures before they are sworn in. but this is going to be tough sledding for some of the controversial pieces of legislation that will come down. >> well, when you are the speaker of the house or the leader in the senate, you do have to cut deals. the question is do you cut a deal that you can survive? that was the problem with kevin mccarthy a couple of years ago as he cut a deal that

he could not survive, so mike johnson obviously -- we don't know, you know, what was said, what deal may or may not have been cut there but something happened, obviously, and i don't know what magically could happen that was different then versus some of the conversations yesterday because ralph norman was in there but you are right, bret, you have to be able to cut a deal and say, all right, i'm going to allow you to get a or get an amendment or a vote on something here, that's as far as i can go, that's as far as i can go. the problem is you potentially empowered -- this has always been the criticism of the house of representatives in the past few years, it has become too top-down. the chris's and republicans, the democrats when nancy pelosid say we can have more power, the rank-and-file membership can exhibit that, that is something.

i will be watching very closely over the next couple of days who gets to be the chairman of the house rules committee. the rules committee is kind of the gateway from legislation to go to the floor. lauren boebert, the republican from colorado, said of chip roy, who is playing pretty close counsel on this speaker vote, frankly, and did vote for speaker johnson, she said he would win on the first vote if he gets the gavel for the rules committee. of the problem is i talked about cutting deals you can't survive. if they were to give the gavel to someone potentially like chip roy, who might have different viewpoints on legislation or how legislation should come to the floor, versus the leadership, then that could be a problem for mike johnson. how does he carve that turkey? we don't know if that is going to be the case with chip roy and the rules committee. but historically the rules committee has been ruled tightly by the speaker of both parties whoever is in the majority. >> bret: standby if you would. >> sandra: thank you, chad. james freedman still with us

from "the wall street journal." bret, we will bring in james now. nancy mace sending outreach tweet moments ago, house g.o.p. united in making america great again, let's do this. we saw her obviously at the center, visually we saw her on the screen a bunch, running around in the middle of these huddles, passing phones along. she was obviously integral in the split to the point of her messaging, james, what conclusions can you draw about the power of donald trump's endorsement here and the power that will continue to have? >> certainly very powerful, very persuasive, more so than in the recent attempt to raise the debt ceiling. i also think it was interesting, you were talking about the visuals, just in terms of speaker johnson's method took around those last few members. he is known as a very polite and gracious guy. the speaker, as you know, has that beautiful, big, ornate

office right off the floor, but he went to meet with them in the cloakroom. i think that suggests he was treating them with respect and as an equal, not as the speaker talking down to them. your interview with mr. fallon suggested they were not negotiating over numbers, but process, so i imagine one of the asks was, let's do budgeting the way we are supposed to. let's pass the appropriations bill every year and not have the end of the fiscal year, right before debt ceiling, m mad dash assembling of thousands of pages of items no one has read. if there was a promise from the speaker to be better ability process that can yield spending restraint, which is so badly needed, i think if republicans are unified around that, that is great news for everybody.

>> bret: yeah, you know, there are still some hard feelings, i think, as you are looking live on the house floor in the back there, chip roy up against the rail in the house chamber. he was not too pleased. he put out on x, "everything we do needs to set the congress up for success and to deliver the trump agenda for the american people. speaker johnson has not made that clear yet. so there are many members beyond the three who voted for someone else who have reservations." meantime, byron york, matt gaetz, the recently-resigned congressman from florida, obviously up for ag and pulled his name from that nomination, he put out on x earlier, "mike johnson will be elected speaker today on the first vote. people might like or dislike that come i'm just reporting the news." that with the news. thomas massie said this didn't age well when the vote was hinging and then he just came back and said actually, looks like mine did each well.

a lot of social media back and forth, byron. your thoughts as we wait to hear these speeches, what this moment means, and kind of what it means for the agenda -- and also for the democrats, who are kind of licking their chops come i think come about this slim majority and maybe things they can do or not do. >> well, republicans narrowly averted the specter of speaker jeffries again, but this is actually a triumph for mike johnson. he had a majority in which he could only lose one vote and still win, and that is what he did so that was pretty impressive. as i was saying before, i think it is a trump affect, and more trump influence being exercised behind-the-scenes, so i think that was a very big part of this, indication of the president's wishes in this, and also a reminder that republicans really should have won more

seats in the last election. this is not going to get any easier going forward, doing some legislation, and it will call on the president's ability to call some of those democrats who have been more open to him than they were in the past to join him on some matters of legislation, and perhaps pass a few things on a bipartisan basis. that's going to be more necessary, and we have seen it today, when you can only lose one republican vote and still pass a partisan bill. >> sandra: mollie hemingway still with us, as well. we've got 10 minutes to go until the top of the hour peered mike johnson reelected house speaker. your thoughts on what this means for governing going forward. >> well, i think that point that byron just made is so key. this is such a narrowly divided house, although republicans control the house, the senate, and the white house. this is a real opportunity for democrats who want to be part of the solutions, to play a role

here. when you had the first trump administration, it wasn't just hostile, hostility among the democrats, it was cartoonish hostility. they refused to accept the legitimacy of the first trump election. i think a third of all democrats refused to even show up at the inauguration because they believe the conspiracy theory that trump had stolen the 2016 election by colluding with russia. and you had people just immediately move toward impeachment votes and byron wrote a great book on all of that. this time i think a lot of americans are just not in the mood for that, they want to see solutions. they want to see -- >> bret: look listening to the house speaker. [applause]

this is the pomp and circumstance. now speaker mike johnson and minority leader akeem jeffries coming down the main aisle to the applause of their colleagues. again, jeffries will deliver a speech then hand the gavel to johnson, and then the official work of swearing in the members who are still come at this moment, representatives-elect. you can imagine this is a big relief for speaker johnson. sandra? >> sandra: of course. and then let the governing be begin. james freeman is with us. james, please weigh in as we continue to watch this live on the house floor. >> yeah, the drama is over. now they can focus on plans with

the new president. i would say, i think there needs to be pressure on all of them. unity is good, but they have a job to do. the bush, obama, trump, biden era has not been good in terms of surging federal debt, and i think if you look at the election results, big picture, this was a choice between relatively bigger, more intrusive government and smaller government, so i think beyond a few holdouts, and we are not sure as of now what they were promised, if anything, there is certainly a large part of the republican party that is demanding finally some restraint in washington spending, and that historic surge during the biden years that created such a chasm between revenues and spending has to be addressed.

this is an issue, and it is not going to end with this ceremony today. >> bret: bill mcgurn still with us, "wall street journal," thoughts? >> yeah, i agree with james. look, i was watching this. it was like watching the sugar ball last night. at the beginning i was yelling at the tv, complaining about all of the penalties on it notre dame and throwing my hands up in exasperation. at the end, they won, i was all happy, all was forgiven. this is beginning. this will be forgotten. but now they have to deliver. though i think it was wrong for the three congressmen to hold this up, some of their desires are legitimate. particularly on spending rules and getting us back to normal processes. one reason we have too much spending is we don't have normal spending processes in congress, so people get these last-minute

bills they have to go through, all dire consequences. we need a return to order enter running things, and i think that is what mike johnson is promising. >> bret: okay, this is minority leader huck hakeem jeffries. we will listen in. sandra, it has been great being with you. we will run up to the top of the hour. >> sandra: let's listen. [applause] >> whip clark, chairman agee lark, thank you for your kind and generous words of nomination. to my colleagues in government, new members of congress, families, friends, all those assembled, it is a high honor and a distinct privilege to welcome you to the people's house and a 119th congress. [applause] the bible teaches us in

ecclesiastes, the third chapter, first verse, that for ever everything, there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. it's fair to say that in a democracy, there is a time to campaign and a time to govern. the election is over. this is a new congress. the american people need us as their elected representatives in this season to put down our partisan swords and pick up bipartisan plowshares. [applause] it's time for us to come together. not as democrats or republicans, but as americans, to get things done for the people. in that spirit, house democrats will work hard to find

bipartisan common ground with our republican colleagues and the incoming administration on any issue whenever and wherever possible in order to make life better for everyday americans. for far too long, in this country, the cost of living has gone up, but the size of the middle class has come down. housing costs are too high. grocery costs are too high. child care costs are too high. insurance costs are too high. utility costs are too high. america is too expensive. there are far too many people in this great country who for decades have been struggling to live paycheck to paycheck.

that is not acceptable in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. [applause] we need to build an affordable economy for hardworking american taxpayers, and we need to build it now. it is time for us to come together and finally lower the high cost of living in the united states of america once and for all. [applause] and we will work with anyone, of any party, to get that done. we will work with anyone to secure our borders, and we will work with anyone to fix our broken immigration system in a comprehensive and bipartisan manner. [applause]

at the same period of time, at the same period of time, we will push back against far right extremism whenever necessary. [applause] so let me be clear. social security and medicare are not entitlement programs. they are earned benefits. [cheers and applause] hardworking american taxpayers pay in to social security and medicare every day, every week, every month, every year, throughout their entire adult life. they have earned those benefits. worked hard for those benefits. and deserve those benefits. so as democrats, our promise to the american people is that we will fight hard to make sure that no one in this town takes away social security or medicare from the american people.

not now. not ever. no means never. [applause] >> opposition is that it is not acceptable to cut can social security, cut medicare, cut can medicaid, cut veterans or cut nutritional assistance from children and families in order to pay for massive tax breaks for billionaires and wealthy corporations. house democrats will fight hard to protect working class americans, and the things that matter to them. not the wealthy, the well off and the well connected. keep your hands off social security and medicare. [applause]