Rep. Mike Johnson reelected as U.S. Speaker of the House
By onAnnouncements | Legal
The U.S. House of Representatives has reelected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-L.A.). as the 56th Speaker of the House. He was one of several lawmakers in 2019 who advocated the Justice Department drop or reconsider its plan to terminate a Consent Decree directly affecting repairers and consumers.
Following his election on Jan. 3, Johnson spoke on the House floor.
“The path of prosperity has long been paved with policies that put America and Americans first,” Johnson said, according to written remarks provided by his office. “And that is what we will champion in the 119th Congress. We have a mandate that was shown in the election cycle. The American people want an America first agenda. Sadly, for the past four years of divided government, too many politicians in Washington have done the opposite.
“Open borders and over-regulation have destroyed our cities and stifled innovation. Inflation and weak leadership have left Americans poorer and they placed our country in a perilous position. But in recent months, we have witnessed something happening — something that’s really remarkable — a political moment in modern history; a groundswell of Americans from every state, race, and religion who now demand that we put the interests of Americans first again. And we will.”
Johnson added that Congress and the new Trump Administration must “apply commonsense” to stop attacks on liquefied natural gas and eliminate funding for the Green New Deal. The Congressional plan focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by moving away from fossil fuels to “clean energy” and includes creating millions of clean energy jobs.
“We’re going to expedite new drilling permits,” Johnson said. “We’re going to save the jobs of our auto manufacturers and we’re going to do that by ending the ridiculous EV mandates.”
In 2019, as chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Johnson told the Department of Justice he was concerned about the proposed termination of the 1963 Consent Decree, an antitrust decree on auto insurers.
According to an Insurance Consumer Advocate Network (iCan) copy of the 1963 complaint, which was settled by the decree, insurers had allegedly for nearly 20 years co-conspirited “to eliminate competition among member companies in the adjustment and settlement of automobile property insurance claims, among appraisers and among repair shops, in order to control and depress automobile material damage repair costs through boycott, coercion and intimidation of repair shops.”
Johnson as well as U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and John Kennedy (R-LA) asked the DOJ to drop or reconsider its plan to terminate the open-ended decree.
At the time, Johnson said he felt the consent decree deserved “strong consideration for continuation.”
“I greatly appreciate the department’s goals in conducting a thorough review of all the consent decrees that currently have no sunset,” Johnson wrote. “I’m sure you would agree with me that reducing unnecessary government regulation on American businesses should remain a priority. In addition, I appreciate the department’s willingness to extend a fair process to stakeholders who have submitted comments and the willingness of the department to consider comments received in opposition to terminating this decree. Based on the sincere and thoughtful concerns raised by my constituents, I believe the merits of this particular decree and its continued relevance warrant strong consideration for continuation.”
Several constituents, many of whom were small business owners, told Johnson the consent decree promoted competition and remained in the best interest of the American consumer, according to the letter.
By August 2020, the decision was made to keep the decree on the books. Society of Collision Repair Specialists Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg previously said the agreement meant the insurance industry and U.S. government were to “forever refrain from practices that were established as anti-competitive means of steering, price fixing, and depressing and controlling automobile material damage repair costs.
“Alongside the excellent grassroots response from our membership, SCRS and our representatives effectively communicated the very real concern that a rollback of the agreement would further embolden those prohibited behaviors to the detriment of the motoring public,” he said.
In the Senate, John Thune (R-S.D.) was elected as majority leader last week.
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Featured image: YouTube screenshot of U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson speaking to the House following his Jan. 3, 2025 speaker reelection.