Democratic leaders in the US House of Representatives vowed that the Georgia extremist Marjorie Taylor Greene “will not succeed” if she triggers an attempt to remove the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, from his role.
In response, Greene promised to press on in her quest to show Johnson the door.
Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic minority leader, made his position clear on Tuesday in a statement with other party leaders that cited Johnson’s recent success in passing a foreign aid package despite opposition from the far right of Republican ranks. Earlier this month, the House voted to send four foreign aid bills to the Senate, even as a majority of Republican members opposed the Ukraine funding piece of the proposal. Joe Biden signed the aid package into law last week.
“From the very beginning of this Congress,” Jeffries and the other leaders said, “House Democrats have put people over politics and found bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans in order to deliver real results. At the same time, House Democrats have aggressively pushed back against Maga [pro-Trump] extremism. We will continue to do just that.
“At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of pro-Putin Republican obstruction. We will vote to table Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate the chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”
Greene filed her motion to vacate, the mechanism by which a speaker can be removed, last month, after Johnson relied on Democratic votes to pass a government funding bill. But Greene stopped short of forcing a vote on the matter, and she has not yet followed through on her threat to do so.
Since Greene filed her motion, Johnson has overseen passage of the foreign aid package and the extension of federal surveillance powers and taken other steps to which far-right Republicans object.
Asked about Democrats’ show of support, Johnson reiterated that he remains focused on carrying out his conference’s legislative agenda.
“I have to do my job. We have to do what we believe to be the right thing,” the speaker said at a press conference. “What the country needs right now is a functioning Congress. They need a Congress that works well, works together and does not hamper its own ability to solve these problems.”
Johnson retains support from Donald Trump but Greene, an ardent Trump ally who has floated herself to be his running mate, has vowed to press ahead.
Greene has gained support for immediate action from two fellow rightwingers – Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona – but even the hard-right Freedom Caucus has indicated that it does not support an attempt to remove Johnson now.
“We need to wait until November and have a speaker contest,” congressman Bob Good, chair of the caucus, told Punchbowl News.
In response to the Democratic leaders’ statement, Greene issued a lengthy statement of her own – and vowed to press on in her quest to remove Johnson from the speakership.
“Mike Johnson is officially the Democrat speaker of the House,” she said, using the wrong term for the Democratic party, which Republicans deliberately employ as a pejorative.
Greene added: “What slimy back room deal did Johnson make for the Democrats’ support? He should resign [and] switch parties … If the Democrats want to elect him speaker (and some Republicans want to support the Democrats’ chosen speaker), I’ll give them the chance to do it.”
She also alluded to rightwing conspiracy theories about the “deep state” or “uniparty”, which hold that a permanent government of operatives and bureaucrats exists to thwart the populist right.
“I’m a big believer in recorded votes because putting Congress on record allows every American to see the truth and provides transparency to our votes,” Greene said. “Americans deserve to see the uniparty on full display. I’m about to give them their coming-out party!”
Greene wants to subject Johnson to the same fate as his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, who in October became the first speaker ever ejected by his own party. At his press conference, Johnson alluded to the chaos that followed McCarthy’s departure last fall, as House Republicans struggled for weeks to choose a new speaker. The gridlock brought the House to a complete standstill until Johnson’s election.
“We saw what happened with the motion to vacate the last time. Congress was closed for three weeks. No one can afford for that to happen,” Johnson said. “We need people who are serious about the job here to continue to do that job and get it done. So I have to do what I believe is right every day and let the chips fall where they may.”