Greene Moves to Oust Johnson, Teeing Up Another Historic Vote
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia moved on Wednesday to oust Speaker Mike Johnson from his post, teeing up a snap vote on whether to allow the Louisiana Republican to keep his gavel in a remarkable act of political retribution that she has been threatening for weeks.
Ms. Greene’s move came roughly three weeks after Mr. Johnson pushed through a long-stalled $95 billion national security spending package to aid Israel, Ukraine and other American allies over the objections of Ms. Greene and other right-wing Republicans who staunchly opposed sending additional aid to Kyiv.
But as she rose on the House floor to bring up her resolution declaring the speakership vacant, Ms. Greene appeared to be engaging in a mostly symbolic move that was all but certain to fail. Only two other Republicans, Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona, have publicly said they would support the motion, and Democratic leaders have said their members would join an effort to kill any ouster attempt against Mr. Johnson.
Lawmakers widely booed Ms. Greene as she called up the resolution and as she read it aloud.
Still, it marked the second time in less than a year that Republicans have sought to depose their own speaker, coming about seven months after G.O.P. rebels made Mr. Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, the only person in history to have been removed from the post.
And Ms. Greene has made clear that even if the attempt to depose Mr. Johnson is unsuccessful, she still sees value in publicly undermining him.
“If he remains speaker with” Democrats’ help, she recently wrote on social media, “he’s fully compromised.”