WASHINGTON ― House Democrats said Tuesday that they would step in to save Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from being ousted if needed and he did not reject that offer, likely ending a simmering weekslong effort by a small group of hard-right Republicans to replace him.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) threatened to force a snap referendum on Johnson’s speakership after he recently allowed a bipartisan vote to prevent a government shutdown. Johnson further infuriated Greene and her cohort by supporting bipartisan foreign aid legislation.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his top deputies said that in light of the foreign aid legislation passing, Democrats would vote to block Greene’s “motion to vacate” — meaning that there’s no way she would have enough votes to prevail.
“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,” Jeffries said in a statement with Reps. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair,” the Democrats said. “If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”
Later on Tuesday morning, Greene said that she would force the House to go through with her doomed motion.
“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,” Greene said on social media. “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.”
Johnson said at a press conference that he was not given advance notice of the statement by Democratic leaders.
“First I’ve heard of it,” he said.
“Like I’ve said, I’ve got to do my job and continue to keep my head down. This is a very serious time for the country. We’re not playing games here. The world is on fire.”
Johnson also said that he had not made a deal with Democrats but did not object to being able to keep his job due largely to their acquiescence.
“There’s no deals at all,” he said, rejecting the idea that he had exchanged his support of a Ukraine aid bill for a Democratic guarantee that he could retain the speakership.
“I’ve not requested assistance from anyone. I’m not focused on that at all. I’m focused on getting the job done and getting the legislation passed.”
According to House rules adopted by Republicans under their previous speaker, the former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a single lawmaker can force a no-confidence vote on the speaker at any time. This led to McCarthy’s downfall after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) triggered a vote last fall with support from seven of his GOP colleagues. McCarthy could have survived if Democrats wanted to bail him out, but they all voted with Gaetz and his ilk.
Several Democrats had previously said that they would help protect Johnson from Greene’s resolution. And even before Jeffries made this official Tuesday, it seemed that Greene lacked the support she’d need from her Republican colleagues to pull off an ouster.
“There’s been a lot of chatter about a motion to vacate, but there’s just quite frankly not the willpower,” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) told HuffPost after emerging from a party meeting. “Internally, everyone knows what would happen if that were to pass, and so we’re moving ahead.”
When Republicans booted McCarthy from the speaker’s office, they wound up leaderless for three weeks, halting all legislative activity until they finally settled on Johnson. It’s not clear how moving against Johnson would be any different.
“I don’t think anybody’s talking about it,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said. “I don’t think the votes are there.”