Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Wednesday said he’s ready for the “chaos” that has plagued the House for much of 2023 and 2024 to end next week, when a bipartisan group of lawmakers is expected to vote to quash a motion to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from his post.
“I’m relieved as I think all of America is that the chaos in the House will be discontinued,” McConnell told reporters when asked about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) plan to force a vote on the motion to vacate the Speaker’s chair next week.
The motion is expected to fail after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats pledged to vote to table the motion to boot Johnson from his job.
McConnell said that ending the threat against Johnson would be a good thing for Congress and the country.
“I think it’s a benefit to our country, a benefit to the House, a benefit to the reputation of Congress,” he said.
Greene introduced her motion to push Johnson out of his job a month ago and has recruited at least two colleagues to support the effort: Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.). But a number of Republicans, including hardline conservative opponents of Johnson, have expressed hesitation about ousting him so close to the November election.
Johnson and his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), labored for months under the threat that they could be kicked out of their jobs at any moment because McCarthy agreed to a rules package at the start of the 118th Congress that allows a single member of the House to force a snap leadership election.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) used a motion to vacate against McCarthy in October, ending his run as Speaker after only nine months and bringing the House to a standstill for three weeks until Johnson was elected Speaker.