Washington – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene continued her threat to expel Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday, calling for a vote on a motion to remove him from the House chamber, which lawmakers quickly passed, meaning Speaker Passed a motion to kill. A stunning scene that marked a major reversal from the previous day and calmed the threat looming over the speaker.
“The format of the resolution is as follows: It declares the office of Speaker of the House vacant,” the Georgia Republican said, to boos from many in the House. “This is a united party for the American people to watch.”
The House voted 359-43 to advance the motion shortly after Greene advanced it for an immediate vote. Most Democrats worked with most House Republicans to do so. Only 11 House Republicans voted against the motion.
Mr Green's move marked a reversal from a day earlier, when he appeared to back down from his threat to trigger a vote to remove Mr Johnson.
“The ball is now in Mike Johnson's court,” Green said after meeting with Mike Johnson on Tuesday.
But Mr Green moved forward on Wednesday night, when he put a stop to an immediate vote that must be taken within two legislative days on whether Mr Johnson should remain speaker. Within minutes, House Minority Leader Steve Scalise made a motion to stop Greene's effort.
Heading into the vote, only two other House Republicans had publicly endorsed Greene: Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona. Democrats, meanwhile, had promised to save Mr. Johnson after he helped pass a foreign aid bill in Congress last month.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries explained “.60 minutes“Why would Democrats want to preserve Mr. Johnson's chairmanship? Our thinking has traditionally been, 'Let the other side work out its own mess,'” Jeffries said. If the turmoil begins to affect Mr. Johnson's ability to carry out his duties on his behalf, it is our responsibility, as American citizens, at that point to allow extremists to disrupt Congress and the country. It may be a matter of making clear what is not allowed.”
He also suggested that House Democrats are very strong, given Johnson's slim majority as speaker. “Even though we are a minority, we have effectively governed as if we were a majority because we continue to provide the majority of votes needed to get things done,” he said. “Those are just facts.”
Greene has been threatening Johnson since March after relying on Democrats to pass a $1.2 trillion spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown. Mr. Johnson said he met twice with Mr. Greene over a number of days this week, where he drew up a list of demands for him to resign. And Greene is facing intense pressure from her Republican colleagues to change course.
Former President Donald Trump said in a social media post Wednesday that it was “not the right time” to file a motion to resign, and expressed support for Johnson, calling him “a good man who is trying very hard.” He added: “I too wish some things had been completed in the last two months, but we will get through it together.”
The threat to Mr Johnson's Speakership comes just months after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted in a historic vote, making him the first person to be removed from the Speaker's position during Congress. Eight House Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to remove Mr. McCarthy from office, following weeks of efforts within the Republican conference to elect Mr. McCarthy's replacement.
Mr. McCarthy's firing was prompted by similar complaints from members of his own conference who opposed his efforts to work with Democratic lawmakers to keep the government funded. But the turmoil in the House of Commons without a speaker for weeks, combined with the reality that Mr Johnson generally enjoys a higher level of favorability in the chamber than his predecessor, have made MPs less willing to make the same choice this time around. It seems there is.
In comments to reporters after the vote, Mr Johnson defended himself as a “lifelong campaigning conservative Republican” and said the country “desperately needs a functioning Congress”. The Louisiana Republican said the attempt to oust Greene was “misguided.”
“I hope this is an end to the personal politics and frivolous character assassination that characterized the 118th Congress,” he said. “It's unfortunate. This is not who we are as Americans and we are better than this. We need to get over it.”