WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. and his allies on Wednesday turned back a dramatic effort by far-right lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene to oust him, ending months of threats to his speakership for now.
The swing vote to “table” or kill Green’s proposal to vacate the speaker’s chair was 359-43. A total of 10 Republicans voted for Green and seven Democrats voted to participate.
During the week’s final series of votes, Greene stood on the floor and announced a privileged motion to vacate the speaker’s seat, forcing a vote on Johnson’s future. He was immediately booed by his colleagues when he officially announced his efforts.
“This is the union that the American people are following,” he said, gesturing with both hands.
Johnson’s allies immediately moved to “table,” or “kill” Green’s impeachment motion. His GOP allies were in a strong position to reverse Green’s efforts, given that Democratic leaders said on April 30 that their rank-and-file would help. to dismiss Greene’s motion to vacate speaker’s chair.
That saves Johnson’s job, at least temporarily, though a vote by Democrats to keep him in office would anger conservative activists and fringe groups. And there’s nothing stopping Greene or any other conservative foe from forcing another vote on Johnson’s fate down the road.
Although eager to unseat Johnson, his campaign never gained momentum among his colleagues. Conservative Reps. Thomas Massey, R-Ky. and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., co-sponsored his discharge resolution. Under normal circumstances, those three GOP votes would have been enough to remove Johnson from office, given the GOP’s razor-thin majority and all Democrats voting to remove him from office.
But members of both parties are still lamenting the paralysis that gripped the House for three weeks last fall after Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, took office. the first speaker to be overthrown from his job in the middle of the congressional term. A staunch McCarthy ally, Greene strongly opposed McCarthy’s ouster and ultimately said no.
In his resolution and on the House floor, Greene quoted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who said in a recent CBS “60 Minutes” interview: “Even though we’re in the minority, we’re actually in charge. If we were the majority, because we continue to provide the majority needed to get things done. These are just facts.”
Although he signed Greene’s motion to vacate, Massie repeatedly said he did not want to force a vote to oust him and cause similar chaos, instead forcing Johnson to resign voluntarily.
Lawmakers, including many conservatives, said so I don’t want to repeat it fall speaker struggle.
The idea of Democrats stepping in to save Johnson has been bubbling over the past few months.
Moderate Democrats have publicly and privately said they would vote to save the speakerespecially after Johnson helped out prevent a government shutdownpushed through updating the critical FISA spy tool and billions of dollars in foreign aid for Ukraine after months of delays.
Kyle Stewart contributed.