WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and his allies on Wednesday defeated a dramatic effort by far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to remove him from power. It ended – for now – months of threats against his chairmanship.
The lopsided vote was 359-43 to pass or deny the motion to vacate Greene’s chair. Only 10 Republicans voted for Greene, and seven Democrats voted present.
196 Republicans and 163 Democrats voted to reject Green’s motion. Thirty-two Democrats, along with 11 Republicans, voted to advance the motion to remove Johnson.
“I thank my colleagues for their show of confidence in defeating this misguided effort,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in Statuary Hall, just outside the House of Commons chambers, after the vote. “I hope this is an end to the personality politics and frivolous character assassination that characterized the 118th Congress. It’s unfortunate. This is not who we are as Americans, and we are better than this. We need to get over it.”
The vote came after weeks of Mr Green threatening to force the issue and dragging his feet as it became clear there was not enough support to remove the chair. Unlike the successful vote to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last year, there are many Democratic members of Congress have vowed to vote to save the speaker. And after months of delays, billions of dollars in foreign aid to Ukraine was passed.
During the final series of votes this week, Greene took to the floor and announced that she would file a privilege motion to vacate the speaker’s chair. When she officially announced the initiative, she was immediately booed by her colleagues.
In response to boos, she pointed with both hands at the Republicans and Democrats in the chamber and said, “This is the ‘United Party’ for the American people watching.”
Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), Johnson’s leader and biggest ally, moved quickly to either “put on the table” or “kill” Greene’s motion to resign. . Her Republican allies were in a strong position to thwart Greene’s efforts, given what Democratic leaders said in April. They insisted that their rank-and-file members would assist in defeating Green’s motion to vacate the speaker’s chair.
“In the midst of this turmoil, the adults in the room were House Democrats,” said Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia Democrat who is a moderate running for governor. “There is too much work to do to waste time on frivolous political gamesmanship.”
While this will at least temporarily save Johnson’s job, the fact that Democrats voted to keep him in office is sure to infuriate conservative activists and outside groups. And there is nothing to prevent Mr. Greene and other conservative opponents from forcing another vote on Mr. Johnson’s fate in the future.
The other 10 Republicans who joined Greene in voting against the motion were Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio); Alex Mooney, RW. Virginia; Barry Moore, Republican, Alabama. Victoria Spartz, Republican, Indiana; Chip Roy, Republican, Texas. Paul Gosar, Republican, Arizona. Eli Crane, Republican, Arizona. Eric Burleson, Republican, Missouri. and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.
However, it is unclear whether everyone would have voted to remove Johnson if the motion were to fail. Roy said he hasn’t decided yet.
Although passionate about defeating Johnson, her campaign never gained traction among her colleagues. The only co-sponsors of her resignation were Conservative MPs Massey and Gosar. And under normal circumstances, those three Republican votes would have been enough to remove Johnson if the Republican majority were so thin that all Democrats voted to remove him from office. It should be.
But lawmakers from both parties are still reeling from the paralysis that gripped the House for three weeks last fall, when Mr. Johnson’s predecessor, Mr. McCarthy, became the first speaker to be fired midway through his term. Greene, a staunch McCarthy ally, vehemently opposed McCarthy’s ouster and ultimately voted against it.
The idea that Democrats would step in to save Mr. Johnson has emerged in recent months, with lawmakers saying publicly and privately that they intend to vote against supporting Ms. Greene.
In her resolution and on the House floor, Greene quoted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D.N.Y.) in a recent interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes”: Because even if we were in the majority, we would continue to provide the majority of votes needed to get things done. those are just facts. ”
Democrats cheered when she quoted their leader.
“Speaker Johnson’s term will be defined by certain self-serving traits,” Greene said on the floor before the vote, “either to advance Republican priorities or to maintain his own personal power. “When faced with the choice of allying with the Democratic Party, Mr. Johnson always chooses to do so.” He is a Democrat himself. ”
Mr Massey signed Mr Green’s motion to step down, but reiterated that he did not want to force a vote to oust him and cause a similar turmoil, and instead urged Mr Johnson to voluntarily resign.
Lawmakers, including many conservatives, say they don’t want a repeat of the fall’s presidential race. In an interview with NBC News over the weekend, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley urged party unity when asked about Greene’s threat to force a vote to remove Johnson. , argued that Republicans could not flip the Senate and expand their majority in the House. The party is divided.
“We need to make sure that all Republicans understand the gravity of this election cycle, and they understand, and that we move forward on the same page,” Whatley said days before the vote. We need to make sure that we’re in the right place,” he said days before the vote. .
Mr. Johnson’s supporters slammed Mr. Greene when she filed the complaint. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R.S.D.), chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus and no relation to her chair, ran to the cameras on the steps of the Capitol to bash her. .
“We know this motion will do nothing to make America stronger. It will do nothing to bring about a victory for conservatives,” he said. “She’s engaged in political theater that’s gone awry. … We’re going to do what adults do. We’re going to ignore the tantrums and instead work on actually governing this country.” is.”
Asked whether Greene, known as MTG, should be punished for his actions, moderate Rep. Mark Molinaro (R.N.Y.) said, “People who keep saying things like this about themselves need an explanation. There has to be some responsibility.”
“Lies and dishonesty are much louder than truth and seriousness,” he said. “I’ll leave it to you to decide which side of the equation she’s on.”
After it passed in the House, President Trump wrote on his social media platforms, “I love Marjorie Taylor Greene with all my heart,” but said he wanted party unity and that Republicans would not support her motion. “It is my request” to vote to submit it, he added.
In the end, Trump had no influence on the vote. The election was already over by the time Trump published his post.
