By Raul Castillo
25 Oct 2023, 7:31 PM EDT
President Joe Biden asked Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the House of Representatives, to “act responsibly” and “above any partisanship,” after the Republican was elected by his party to lead Congress.
“This is a moment for all of us to act responsibly and put the good of the American people and the everyday priorities of American families above any partisanship,” President Biden said in a statement.
In addition, Biden asked for speed to work together.
“We need to act quickly to address our national security needs and avoid a shutdown in 22 days. “While we have real disagreements on important issues, there should be a mutual effort to find common ground whenever we can,” the president said.
Despite Biden’s cordial tone in much of the statement, he took the opportunity to highlight the Republican chaos in the last three weeks, in which they nominated up to three different candidates before Johnson to preside over Congress.
“While House Republicans spent the last 22 days determining who would lead the 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,” our statement said. border and invest in Americans,” he added.
Biden’s agenda
Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden congratulate Johnson on his election and reiterated that he will seek to work with whoever presides over Congress. The same thing he said when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was impeached.
“I reaffirmed my willingness to continue working across both parties after Republicans won the majority in the House last year,” Biden said.
“Likewise, the American people have made clear that they expect House Republicans to work with me and Senate Democrats to govern across both parties, to protect our urgent national security interests and grow our economy.” for the middle class.”
The president also outlined the agenda he hopes to work on with Johnson. He mentioned “enacting important bipartisan legislation on infrastructure, overcoming China, gun reform and providing care for veterans.”
Campaign criticism
President Biden’s tone in his message to Johnson was more institutional than the one used by his re-election campaign this Wednesday.
The spokesman for the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign, Ammar Moussa, assured that Johnson’s election consolidates the extreme takeover of the House Republican Conference.
“MAGA Mike Johnson’s rise to the presidency cements MAGA’s extreme takeover of the House Republican Conference. Now, Donald Trump has his loyal foot soldier to ban abortion nationwide, lead efforts to deny free and fair election results, gut Social Security and Medicare, and promote the extreme MAGA agenda at the expense of class families. media,” said the Biden-Harris 2024 spokesperson.
Keep reading:
- Republican Mike Johnson formally elected speaker of the House of Representatives
- Biden campaign: Johnson’s election in Congress consolidates the GOP’s MAGA extremism
- What does Mike Johnson, the new president of the US Congress, think about Ukraine and Israel?