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Meet the acting Speaker of the House: Cheryl Lynn Johnson

By FOX 5 DC Digital Team
Published  January 6, 2023 12:01pm EST
FOX 5 DC

GOP House Speaker stalemate continues

The divided Republican party continues to keep the Speaker of the House's seat empty. Insider politics reporter Oma Seddiq joins FOX 5 to discus the showdown on Capital Hill.

WASHINGTON - Until the House elects a new Speaker, the Clerk of the House from the previous Congress presides over the house. That means that as of this Wednesday, the Honorable Cheryl Lynn Johnson is presiding over the House. 

Johnson has been serving as the 36th Clerk of the United States House of Representatives since Feb. 26, 2019. Nancy Pelosi named Johnson as her choice for Clerk in Dec. 2018, making her the second African American to serve in the post. 

"A Clerk from a prior Congress who was not elected, but instead appointed by the Speaker to temporarily fill a vacancy in the office of Clerk, has presided over  organization of the House at the next Congress," according to precedents of the House.