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The House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on a proposal to remove Republican Mike Johnson as speaker, but the effort, led by hard-right Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, has little chance of success.
Green announced on Wednesday that she would move forward with a forced vote to remove Johnson this week, following through on a threat she first made in late March. Green has consistently attacked Johnson for pushing bills that have attracted broad bipartisan support, such as government spending proposal approved in March and foreign aid package signed into law last month.
While calling for Johnson’s removal, Green accused the speaker of abandoning his Republican principles in favor of Democratic priorities, such as funding Ukraine.
“Mike Johnson gives [Democrats] anything they want,” Green said Wednesday. “I think every member of Congress should take this vote and let the chips fall where they may. And so next week I will withdraw this release offer.”
But Green’s proposal is expected to fail as House Democratic leaders indicated last week that they would vote to pass or reject the motion to dismiss the chairman. In a statement released Tuesday, the three leaders cited the passage of the foreign aid package, which includes nearly $61 billion in funding for Ukraine, to justify their position.
“At this point, with our national security work done, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of pro-Putin Republican obstruction,” the leaders said. “We will vote to table Marjorie Taylor Green’s motion to relieve the Speaker.” If she called the move, it would fail.
Middle House RepublicansGreen’s campaign attracted little interest, as only two of her colleagues — Thomas Massey of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona — voiced their support for the proposal.
Although the effort is almost certain to fail, Green could still force a vote on his Leave proposal. Current House rules provide that a member of the House may “propose a privileged resolution declaring the office of the Speaker vacant.” Green introduced such a resolution in March, but she stopped short of calling for a vote on the matter.
Green plans to move forward with a request for a vote on the proposal, which would force the House to consider the issue within two legislative days.
Before the vote to remove the speaker, one of Johnson’s allies is expected to introduce a motion to table the motion. When then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy faced the threat of impeachment in October, his allies tried the same tactic, but the proposal to bring failed by a vote of 208 to 218.
This time, the House will almost certainly be able to pass a motion to table Green’s resolution. With House Democratic leadership signaling they would support the impeachment motion and only two fellow Republicans joining Green’s cause, she remains hundreds of votes short of the majority she would need to remove the speaker. (Democrats, however, are not expected to unanimously support the importation proposal, as some have have signaled they will oppose or vote “present”.)
Johnson himself seems largely unfazed by Greene’s threats, criticizing her proposal as “wrong for the Republican conference, wrong for the institution and wrong for the country.” At a news conference Tuesday, Johnson insisted he remains laser-focused on advancing House Republican legislative priorities.
“I have to do my job. We have to do what we believe is right,” Johnson said. “We need people who are serious about the work here to keep doing it and get it done.”
If Johnson is ousted, he would become only the second speaker of the House of Representatives in US history to be formally removed from office – and yet only the second speaker to be removed in less than a year. In October, a small group of Republicans joined Democrats in ousting McCarthy, making him the first House speaker to suffer the humiliation.
McCarthy’s departure sparked weeks of chaos in the House as Republicans repeatedly failed in their efforts to select a new speaker. The House of Representatives remained in a complete standstill for three weeks, unable to conduct any official business, until Johnson (the fourth speaker nominee of the conference) won the election.
Johnson has frequently referenced that embarrassing episode in recent weeks as he tries to dissuade Republicans from joining Green’s campaign.
“We saw what happened with the exit proposal last time,” Johnson said Tuesday. “Congress was closed for three weeks. Nobody can afford that to happen.”
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