Casten Statement on Election of Insurrectionist Speaker Mike Johnson
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (D-IL) released the following statement regarding the election of Mike Johnson (R-LA) as Speaker of the House of Representatives:
“Today is a sad day for any American concerned about protecting the sanctity of our democracy and preserving the rights of women to have autonomy over their own bodies.
“On January 6th, after watching a mob storm the United States Capitol, a majority of the House Republican Conference tried to finish the job. Mike Johnson didn’t just vote to overturn the results of a free and fair election. He was the chief architect of the legal framework that his colleagues said empowered them to do so.
“Mike Johnson not only supports banning abortion without exception, including in cases of rape or incest, he believes in the criminalization of abortion. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, he proudly supported efforts in his home state of Louisiana to imprison doctors who perform abortions.
“This is to say nothing of his work to cut Social Security and Medicare, or the fact that before he came to Congress, he built a career around stripping basic civil rights and civil liberties from the LGBTQ+ community in Louisiana.
“Mike Johnson’s disregard for American democracy is disqualifying. His support for extremist policies is appalling. The American people deserve better.”
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