Republican Hard-Liners Move To Oust House Speaker Mike Johnson

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) followed through Wednesday on her threat against House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), calling for a vote on whether to topple him as speaker after talks with him apparently broke down.

The move threatens to plunge the House back into chaos — a repeat of last fall, when then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy was pushed out by a small band of Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).

A variety of factors, however, have left Johnson in a much stronger position than McCarthy was.

First, the idea appeared to have little appeal with House Republicans outside of Greene and two other hard-right members, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.). While many other Republicans are upset at Johnson, they are reluctant to risk another prolonged public fight over the gavel.

In addition, Democratic leaders have said they would provide the votes needed to table Greene’s motion, effectively killing it while not directly voting on it.

Greene and Massie had been trying to negotiate with Johnson to find a way around either forcing Johnson to rely on Democratic votes to keep the gavel or a having Greene make a potentially humiliating reversal after weeks of threats. But talks Monday afternoon and Tuesday in the speaker’s office yielded no results.

Johnson has irked many Republicans by allowing votes on military aid to Ukraine, a priority of President Joe Biden long opposed by a far-right faction of Republicans, as well as a renewal of a controversial antiterrorism spying authority and a final agreement on federal spending for the rest of the budget year. All three items passed with strong bipartisan majorities, leaving GOP hard-liners upset at Johnson for allowing them to the floor over their objections.

Under House rules, the vote on whether to oust Johnson can be delayed for up to two days while the House is in session.