1 week ago

House Tables Marjorie Taylor Greene's Motion To Oust GOP Speaker Mike Johnson

WASHINGTON ― The House of Representatives quickly tabled Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Wednesday.

The motion to table the Georgia Republican’s resolution passed by an overwhelming, bipartisan margin of 359 to 43, with 196 Republicans against Greene and only 11 supporting her move against the speaker.

“I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort,” Johnson said after the vote. “Hopefully, this is the end of the personality politics and the frivolous character assassination that has defined the 118th Congress.”

The outcome was not a surprise, since Democratic leaders had said they would provide votes to save Johnson’s gavel if Greene force the vote. But Greene had appeared to back off her threat, which she first made against Johnson in March. She said Tuesday that the “ball is in his court” after meeting with the speaker.

Lawmakers booed loudly on the House floor when they realized Greene would trigger the vote against Johnson after all, using a power afforded all lawmakers under current House rules. It was then up to Johnson’s leadership team to act on her motion within two days, and they opted to kill it immediately.

Greene has claimed that Johnson is effectively a Democrat because in recent weeks he has allowed bipartisan votes on funding the government, supplying arms to Ukraine and reauthorizing spy agencies’ warrantless wiretapping powers.

“Johnson regularly chooses to ally himself with Democrats,” Greene said on the House floor, reading from her resolution.