After Democrats Agree To Block Ouster Of Mike Johnson, House Speaker Still Faces Hard-Right Rebellion

On Tuesday, House Democrats said they would join the GOP to kill an effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson if far-right House Republicans forced a vote to remove him after he allowed a vote on a foreign aid package including assistance to Ukraine.

In a joint statement, the three top Democrats said they would side with Republicans supportive of Johnson and vote to table any motion to vacate him.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) filed a measure and threatened to call a snap vote on it, a claim she renewed on Tuesday after Democrats set their intentions.

“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,” the Democratic leaders said in a statement. “If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”

Greene filed her motion to remove Johnson in March after he pushed through a bipartisan $1.2 trillion spending agreement that upset the far right. She said she would wait to force a vote in the hope that the speaker would change his mind. Following the Democrats’ statement, Greene said she would still move ahead.

“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.”

Though some Republicans worry that Johnson would be weakened if he remained speaker, he did not discourage the Democratic backing.

“You hope you have the support of everyone, the entire country,” Johnson told reporters. “We need to be doing the job that the framers intended for Congress to play, and that’s what I’m about.”