MTG Files Motion To Oust Speaker Mike Johnson

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by: Colorado Pols

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Lauren Boebert.

As CNN reports this morning, existential chaos is brewing in the narrowly GOP-controlled U.S. House for a third time in less than a year:

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has filed a motion to oust Mike Johnson from the speakership, according to sources familiar with the matter, amid anger about the government funding bill.

The House would have to consider Greene’s motion within two legislative days after she is recognized. The chamber heads to recess for two weeks on Friday afternoon.

As the New York Times reports, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate the speaker’s chair came after passage this morning of a spending agreement brokered between Speaker Mike Johnson and the White House, narrowly averting a shutdown that would otherwise have begun this weekend:

The House on Friday passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September and avert a partial shutdown at the end of the week, setting off a G.O.P. mutiny that threatened Speaker Mike Johnson’s grasp on the gavel.

In a 286-134 vote that came down to the wire, Democrats rallied to provide the support to overcome a furious swell of opposition by conservative Republicans.

Infuriated by the painstakingly negotiated bipartisan legislation to keep funding flowing for government agencies including the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, the hard right revolted, and as the vote was still ongoing, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia began the process of threatening a snap vote to oust Mr. Johnson, according to a person familiar with her plans who requested anonymity to describe her thinking.

We haven’t heard as of this writing whether or not Rep. Lauren Boebert will be joining her archrival in calling for Johnson’s head, but it’s obviously more complicated for Boebert given Johnson’s endorsement of Boebert in the CO-04 primary. Boebert nonetheless has left the door open to replacing Johnson in previous moments of tension, so we’ll have to see where she lands over the upcoming recess. With the House headed for a two-week recess, MTG’s motion to dump Mike Johnson will now fester in the court of public opinion before lawmakers reconvene to consider it–which again, after the concessions granted by now-ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy, they must.

All we can say for the least productive Congress of our lifetime is, it’s a good day to no longer give a Buck.

9 thoughts on “MTG Files Motion To Oust Speaker Mike Johnson”

MichaelBowman says:

March 22, 2024 at 10:14 am

Isn't he the dude who endorsed HoBo? Asking for a friend.

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1. JohnInDenver says:
  
  March 22, 2024 at 11:57 am
  
  Why yes, Mike Johnson (the one WITHOUT a T) is trying to influence the local Republicans selecting a candidate for the 4th District, preferring "an incumbent" from a different district to any of the locals.
  
  I'm hoping an enterprising media representative will take the time to ask each of the candidates in the special election for their position, whether they would vote for MTG's resolution to vacate the chair or not. Whether this resolution wins or loses, I suspect that the winner of the election will have a chance to vote on ANOTHER motion before the November election.
  
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Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:

March 22, 2024 at 12:39 pm

Matt Gaetz has come out against the motion to vacate, saying that given the thinness of their majority (i.e., two), he fears that a new speaker election could result in a Dem winning. So, even the crackpot caucus is not joining her in this.

Jeffries has given indications that most Dems would vote to keep Johnson although I'm sure that some concessions would be expected (i.e., a vote of Ukraine aid).

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1. MichaelBowman says:
  
  March 22, 2024 at 2:06 pm
  
  A couple more resignations and a Motion to Vacate won’t be necessary. (Buck has indicated there are three more behind him)
  
  House GOP majority is becoming invisbly thin
  
  Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) announces he’ll resign on April 19
  
  Gallgaher, 40, chairs a House select committee
  
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  1. JohnInDenver says:
    
    March 22, 2024 at 2:43 pm
    
    Implications spelled out in a bit more detail on Daily Kos, here
    
    Three vacant Republican seats, meanwhile, won’t be filled until special elections in May and June—but this is where it gets better still: Gallagher’s seat won’t be filled until November.
    
    Under Wisconsin law, if a seat becomes vacant after the second Tuesday in April, then a special election to fill it gets consolidated with the state’s regularly scheduled elections. Gallagher could have avoided this by making his resignation take effect a couple of weeks sooner, but the fact that he didn’t has to make you wonder whether his timing was deliberate.
    
    .
    
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    1. spaceman2021 says:
      
      March 22, 2024 at 3:00 pm
      
      Won't be filled until the successor is sworn in next January
      
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    2. Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
      
      March 22, 2024 at 3:08 pm
      
      "but the fact that he didn’t has to make you wonder whether his timing was deliberate"
      
      Like Ken Buck, he knew precisely what he was doing and who he was doing it to!
      
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      1. Gilpin Guy says:
        
        March 23, 2024 at 8:23 am
        
        Sounds like time for a "Dems are in disarray" story by the lapdog media.
        
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Meiner49er says:

March 23, 2024 at 9:17 am

This is a fund-raising ploy by MTG, nothing more. She can go home to her district over break and milk the rubes, telling them she's so mad about the "swamp" that she's voted to drain it again.

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