House Votes to Make It Harder to Remove Speaker in Approving New Rules

The package also formally disbands the Diversity and Inclusion Office and restores gendered language to the House rules.

House Speaker-elect Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks after winning the House Speaker election during the first sitting of the 119th Congress in Washington on Jan. 3, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A rules package that will make it harder to remove the House speaker was passed in the chamber along party lines on Jan. 3.

The 215–209 vote happened hours after Republicans handed Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) the gavel, entrusting him with steering the party’s historically narrow majority.