During a weekly Republican meeting Tuesday morning, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) upped the ante when he stood up and called on Johnson to resign after announcing that he signed on to Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s plan to depose him, known as a motion to vacate.
That means that if Democrats choose not to rescue Johnson, Republicans would need just a simple majority to oust their second speaker in six months, causing the House to descend further into chaos during an election year when their slender grasp on the majority is at stake.
Massie said he had warned the speaker in a private conversation “weeks ago” that if the motion to oust him is called to the floor, and Democrats do not help bail him out, Republicans would be successful in removing him as speaker because “we’re steering everything toward what [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer wants.”
“The motion is going to get called, okay? Does anybody doubt that? The motion will get called, and then he’s going to lose more votes than Kevin McCarthy,” Massie said, referencing the previous GOP speaker who lost the gavel when eight Republicans joined all Democrats to oust him in October.
“I am not resigning,” Johnson said defiantly at a news conference Tuesday, calling the threat “absurd” as Republicans are “trying to do their job.”
“We need steady leadership. We need steady hands on the wheel,” he said. “Look, I regard myself as a wartime speaker.”
Johnson for months has delayed making a decision on the Senate-passed $95 billion national security supplemental that provides military support for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. He has tried to thread a delicate needle by providing funding for Ukraine, an issue that has divided his conference, and attempting to appease some on his right flank.
But his effort has fallen largely flat. The speaker is far short of the Republican votes needed to pass the procedural vote, known as a rule, to consider the legislation. Some Republicans are angry that after months of saying that border security is the number one priority, the Johnson plan doesn’t include any border security measures. Johnson, however, indicated that his proposal could change. Republicans had a chance to consider a tough bipartisan border security bill earlier this year but rejected it.
That means the speaker faces a double-barreled threat jeopardizing both his job and the key foreign aid bills. On both issues, Johnson can lose only two Republicans. That majority will be even slimmer — one vote — after Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) has resigned by the end of business Friday.
The effort to remove Johnson, if Greene moves forward with it, would surely further divide an already fractured conference that has proven extraordinarily difficult to manage. House Republicans have already ousted one speaker in the last year and struggled to pass legislation.
“The last thing this country needs is to throw a speaker out, although I disagree with what he’s doing … I wouldn’t put the country through that,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, said.
Greene can trigger her motion to vacate at any time. It would have to be voted on within 48 hours.
If Greene has more than two Republican votes to topple Johnson, Democrats will be critical to saving the speaker’s job. They helped to tank McCarthy’s speakership when they voted in unison alongside eight Republicans to oust him.
Democrats have signaled they will help pass the rule to consider the foreign aid measures, but only if those measures are identical to the Senate-approved package. They’ve expressed similar sentiments about saving Johnson’s job if he moves a robust foreign aid bill.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told his Democratic caucus Tuesday morning that Democrats would not support “a penny less” than what’s currently in the Senate bill for humanitarian relief. Democrats have been told the bill will include $9 billion in humanitarian aid, which is the same amount as the Senate bill, but they’re waiting to see the text before communicating a path forward. Republican aides confirm that humanitarian aid is expected to be in the bill.
“We’ve been very clear, Leader Jeffries has been clear that all options should remain on the table. The important point is the substance of the legislation. The substance matters,” Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said.
