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Bresnahan backs Mike Johnson for House speaker and takes oath of office as congressman

Newly sworn-in U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan poses outside his office Friday in the Longworth Office Building in Washington, D.C.
Hannah Pope
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U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan's Office
Newly sworn-in U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan poses outside his office Friday in the Longworth Office Building in Washington, D.C.

On his first official day in office, U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan backed the status quo and promised change.

Bresnahan, R-Luzerne, voted to keep Rep. Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, as the House speaker, in hopes of setting the stage for a new direction for the country. It took a couple of hours longer than it might have, but eventually Johnson received the 218 votes necessary to remain speaker.

“The people of northeastern Pennsylvania and this country can't afford to go through a bitter battle,” Bresnahan said late Friday morning before the vote. “We were elected to come here to get a job done and get to work. And, you know, you need to be able to put (aside) indifference right now and start making a difference.”

In previous new Congresses, picking a House speaker on the first day was routine. A Republican newcomer voting for an incumbent House speaker wouldn’t qualify as news, but Johnson needed almost every Republican vote to win the speakership. Besides Bresnahan, the Johnson votes included U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Luzerne, and Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh. Mackenzie also is heading into his first two-year term in the $174,000-a-year job. Only Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie did not vote for Johnson.

Johnson avoided the fate of former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who waited four days to gather enough votes to become speaker two years ago.

Republican and local business owner Rob Bresnahan Jr. is seen debating incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright at King's College prior to last November's election.
Kara Washington
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WVIA
Republican and local business owner Rob Bresnahan Jr. is seen debating incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright at King's College prior to last November's election.

'Excited to get to work'

Before the vote, Bresnahan talked by telephone about learning this week about the way the House operates.

“It’s syllabus week here,” Bresnahan said, referring to learning about House procedures and Republican plans for the next two years. “This has been a (day long) in the making, and I’m just really excited to get to work.”

In November, Bresnahan won a tough election fight by 6,252 votes against 12-year incumbent Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Lackawanna. He will represent the 8th Congressional District, which consists of all of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike counties; roughly the eastern half of Luzerne County, including Wilkes-Barre, Pittston and Hazleton; and all of Monroe County, except for Polk and Eldred townships and part of Ross Township.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks May 20, 2024, at a Dallas Township fundraiser for Republican 8th Congressional District candidate Rob Bresnahan, who's standing behind Johnson.
Bresnahan campaign
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks May 20, 2024, at a Dallas Township fundraiser for Republican 8th Congressional District candidate Rob Bresnahan, who's standing behind Johnson.

Johnson raised campaign money locally for Bresnahan, who praised his benefactor as qualified to lead the House.

“I mean, it's probably the hardest job in Washington, D.C. right now, but we were elected to govern and not dismantle the institution,” he said. “I'm not saying that I'm going to agree with the speaker 100% of the time. At the end of the day, the policies and the legislation that ultimately ends up in front of me that I'll be voting on needs to be the best fit for the people of northeastern Pennsylvania. That's the only people that I'll be beholden to.”

Committee assignments

Bresnahan will serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Agriculture and Small Business committees.

“We are still noodling on some ideas of what we plan to bring forward, but I feel like my most meaningful work will be done through committee,” said Bresnahan, who ran a traffic signal installation and construction business. “Obviously, being an infrastructure contractor in my last life will be very instrumental in bringing meaningful projects back to the district. I mean, we know we have one in four bridges, 24%, of our bridges are structurally deficient. These are not light lifts.”

The House’s overall priorities should remain as they did during the campaign, he said.

“It's making life affordable again. It's securing the southern border and having safe communities,” he said. “I mean, that is the paramount of what we ran on, and it's going to be a focal point of how I plan on legislating and governing.”

Bresnahan said he hopes Democrats and Republicans can compromise when necessary.

“I came down here to get things done. I didn't get down here to dismantle the institution,” he said. “And you know, one of the caucuses that I plan on joining is (the) Problem Solvers (caucus).”

Bresnahan said he’s already had conversations with other representatives about expanding tuition-free education savings accounts to cover technical and apprentice educations.

“So again, like I've been saying from day one, it doesn't matter if it's a D(emocrat) or an R(epublican), if it's good for northeastern Pennsylvania, it's going to be good by me,” he said.

Surrounded by friends and family, Bresnahan said he thought a lot this week about his grandfather, Walter Kuharchik, who groomed his grandson for the construction business — and encouraged him to run for Congress.

Kuharchik died a week after Bresnahan was elected. His grandfather focused on fixing things, Bresnahan said.

“Actually, that was yesterday's conversation at dinner,” Bresnahan said. “If you knew Wally, he'd walk into my office and say, ‘The door hinge is broken, you got to get this thing fixed’ That would be the first thing that came out of Wally's mouth. And obviously, it's just such a huge part of me that is just permanently ingrained. And certainly, we'll be thinking about him as we go through this ... And certainly, he's watching, he's going to hold me accountable every day, every minute, every hour.”

Borys joins WVIA News from The Scranton Times-Tribune, where he served as an investigative reporter and covered a wide range of political stories. His work has been recognized with numerous national and state journalism awards from the Inland Press Association, Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors, Society of Professional Journalists and Pennsylvania Newsmedia Association.

You can email Borys at boryskrawczeniuk@wvia.org
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