COS champion Mike Johnson vows to decentralize government in speakership acceptance speech

After a weeks-long struggle to select the next speaker of the House, Convention of States supporter Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana clinched the position on Wednesday, vowing to decentralize federal power, tackle the national debt, and end political “brinkmanship.” Johnson, who has spoken critically about the federal government in the past, has also expressed interest in using Article V of the Constitution as a check and balance on Washington, D.C.

“The job of the speaker of the House is to serve the whole body,” the congressman vowed from the speaker’s dais on Wednesday, shortly before being sworn in. “But I made a commitment to my colleagues… that this speaker’s office is going to be known for decentralizing… power.”

After winning the coveted position with 220 votes to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ 208, Johnson became the first Republican since former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster earlier this month to earn his party’s full support. In a stirring acceptance speech, the former state lawmaker acknowledged openly that the American people have lost faith in Congress and that he hopes to rebuild that broken trust through serious reform to the federal government.

Additionally, he announced, to a standing, bipartisan ovation, that his first action as speaker would be to introduce a bill in support of Israel. Due to the vacant leadership position, the House had previously been paralyzed from making its official stance on the Israel-Hamas war known.

“We’re going to show not only Israel but the entire world that the barbarism of Hamas that we have all seen play out on our television screens is wretched and wrong, and we’re going to stand for the good in that conflict.”

He also drew attention to the “catastrophe on our southern border,” urging the body “to come together and address” the crisis.

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Referencing the Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln, and the Bible, Johnson drew heavily from the words and wisdom that have inspired past generations of Americans, positing his vision to “preserve what Lincoln… referred to as the last best hope of man on earth.”

“We are the beacon of freedom,” he said, “and we must preserve this grand experiment in self-governance…. We’re only 247 years into this grand experiment. We don’t know how long it will last. But we do know that the Founders told us to take good care of it.”

In previous orations, Johnson has often warned that a federal government with too much power threatens the Founders’ original design for government of, by, and for the people. Inspired by Article V of the U.S. Constitution, he believes that the states possess the unique ability to restore power to the people, an issue he has frequently advocated for. Last month, for example, prior to McCarthy’s removal, Johnson headed a congressional subcommittee, in which he forced his fellow members to examine how an Article V convention might be used to reform an “out-of-control” administrative state.

“We have to acknowledge that the federal government is way too big, and it does way too many things, and very little of what it does does it do well,” he said. “The administrative state has grown exponentially over the recent decades, and it… has consolidated governmental powers in the executive branch…. That consolidation of power has become really very dangerous.”

In 2016, when Louisiana passed an application calling for an Article V convention to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, impose term limits on federal officials, including members of Congress, and enact other fiscal restraints on Washington, then-state Representative Johnson championed the proposal, speaking often in favor of it. 

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The same convictions that underlie the now-speaker’s vocal support for using Article V to rein in the federal government were also clearly articulated in his acceptance speech. From railing against federal spending, record-high inflation, an “unsustainable” and “unbearable” national deficit, and government “gamesmanship” to calling for “individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and human dignity,” the new speaker has expressed an unconventional willingness to challenge the D.C. power structure.

Nevertheless, as Johnson himself likely would confess, it remains improbable that Washington will ever give up its own power. Now, more than ever, if we wish to preserve “this grand experiment in self-governance,” we must not look to Congress to save us but employ the brilliant wisdom of our Founders.

To show your support for Article V, sign the Convention of States petition below; learn more about how an Article V convention would work here.