US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson Facing “Motion to Vacate”

Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House, may suffer political consequences for approving $61 billion in fresh aid to Ukraine on Saturday. He relied largely on Democratic cooperation not only for final votes, but also to clear procedural hurdles before those votes.

His decision to turn to Democrats was forced by fierce opposition from a small group of Republicans, some in positions of authority in the House, who opposed any further help to Ukraine. Now, the Republicans may force a vote on whether to remove Mr Johnson from the speaker’s chair.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) announced Sunday that her motion to vacate the Speakership is “coming” regardless of what House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) decides, while also avoiding questions about an alternate plan if Johnson is removed.

“Mike Johnson’s Speakership is gone. He ought to do the right thing and resign so that we can move on in a controlled process, and if he doesn’t, he will be removed,” she said Sunday on Fox News.

Maria Bartiromo of “Sunday Morning Futures” then asked Greene if she intends to proceed with her motion to vacate, which she filed last month. She has not yet brought the vote to the House floor or stated what might motivate her to do so.

“It’s coming regardless of what Speaker Mike Johnson does. And three more Republicans have joined us for a special election coming up soon. “People need to be aware that this is possible,” Greene said.

Greenes: Motion to vacate is “coming soon” for Mike Johnson

Greene took the initial step toward Speaker Mike Johnson’s removal after the House passed a funding bill to avoid a partial government shutdown only hours before the deadline. The deal received support from both parties, but House conservatives questioned it.

At the time, Greene described the move as “basically a warning,” but tensions rose in recent weeks when Johnson endorsed stand-alone funding to Ukraine, after previously asking that help to Kyiv be linked to security measures for the US southern border.

“[Johnson] has completely betrayed Republican voters all over the country, and he is absolutely working for the Democrats, pipe-passing, the Biden administration’s agenda,” Greene said in a statement on Sunday.

“So, this Speakership is utterly swamped. Mike Johnson is the only one who has tried to hold on to it and is in utter denial.”

Johnson termed the ouster threat “absurd” last week and refused to resign. His comments came shortly after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) became the first Republican to publicly support Greene’s move. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) publicly supported the motion last week.Uni’ party is in control of the government

Uni’ party is in control of the government

Bartiromo asked Greene for her reaction to critics who claim she is “creating chaos” for the GOP conference, to which she replied, “Those who are calling this ‘drama’ are the very people that are responsible for the drama that the American people are having to live through every single day.”

“Those on the left, those on the right, the ‘uni’ party that’s in control of our government are the ones that have inflicted the American people with nearly $35 trillion in debt, ripped our border wide open,” she went on to say.

Bartiromo then asked Greene for an alternative strategy in the event that Johnson was fired.

“Our strategy is to offer the American people a reason to trust and fight for us. The American people support President Trump as the next president of the United States because they have seen him in action. He battled against the Democrats agenda. He put America first.

They badly want him to lead this country again because they believe he will do so,” Greene said. Bartiromo then informed Greene that she had “not given a plan for the Speaker’s role,” before inquiring about the motion’s timing.

The motion to vacate is the House’s procedure for removing its speaker. The chamber’s existing procedures allow any member, Democrat or Republican, to introduce the motion.

If introduced as a “privileged” resolution, the House must consider it at some point, albeit procedural votes may delay it. It need simply a simple majority to pass. The motion to vacate received 216 votes to 210 votes.

By Geoff Thomas