U.S. lawmakers will vote next week on whether Speaker of the House Mike Johnson will retain one of the top leadership posts in the American government.
Johnson – who has only been speaker since last October – faces a threat from within his own party. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called on Johnson to resign on Wednesday, saying he has betrayed the principles upheld by former president Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
If he does not resign, Greene says she will call for a vote to remove him.
The procedural effort – known as the motion to vacate – is just the latest in several chaotic efforts to replace the House of Representatives speaker, as Republicans attempt to govern with a very narrow majority.
What is a motion to vacate?
The motion to vacate is a procedural effort that allows any single member of the U.S. House of Representatives to call for a vote to remove the speaker of the House from power. A simple majority is required for success.
When Republicans won a narrow majority in the House in the 2022 elections, they agreed to allow motions to vacate as part of the rules package that is passed by each new Congress. Democrats did not allow for this motion when they held the majority in the U.S. House.
Johnson said in a statement Wednesday, “This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country.”
Has this happened before?
Johnson was elected speaker by a vote of 220-209 on October 25, 2023 after twenty-two days of debate and multiple nominees and rounds of votes to decide on the top leadership post. The speakership was vacant after Kevin McCarthy lost the vote of confidence, the first time in U.S. history a speaker of the house was removed from power.
Eight conservative Republicans were displeased with McCarthy for passing a short-term measure to keep the government funded past a September 30 deadline with Democratic legislators’ help. They joined with all 209 House Democrats to vote out McCarthy.
The 51-year-old Johnson, a three-term congressman, was a lower-level member of Republican leadership and not widely known until he won the speakership.
Why are some Republicans upset with Johnson?
In a press conference Wednesday, Greene accused Johnson of advancing Democratic priorities – including funding abortions and trans-gender care – by allowing passage of government funding. She also criticized his decision to bring a $95 billion foreign aid package up for a vote last week.
“Americans do not want to send their hard-earned tax dollars to fund the murder and killing in foreign countries. They’re fed up with it,” Greene said.
However, Greene is in the minority in criticizing Johnson for these moves. The foreign aid bill passed Congress by overwhelmingly bipartisan majorities. Even the bill advancing the most contentious issue – sending more than $60 billion in assistance to Ukraine – passed by a vote of 311-112. Around twenty House Republicans voted against the four foreign aid bills in the package.
But Johnson defended that vote, telling reporters, “We did our work here, and I think history will judge it well.”
Are there enough votes to remove Johnson?
While Democrats joined with Republicans to remove McCarthy from power last year, that will not be the case this time around.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced in a statement Tuesday “House Democrats have aggressively pushed back against MAGA extremism. We will continue to do just that. 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.”
Many House Republicans are also expected to vote to keep Johnson in power, citing concerns that a chaotic battle for leadership sends the wrong message to voters ahead of the November elections.
