Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) filed a motion to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Friday in protest of a $1.2 trillion spending package that averted a partial government shutdown.
The consolidated bill, which will fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 286-134, with 185 Democrats and 101 Republicans supporting it. Despite Republican objections that the package did little to address border security efforts, the bill successfully secured a two-thirds majority, expediting the process of passing it on to the Senate. The second chamber of Congress now has until midnight to approve the package before the deadline for government funding expires.
The Friday deadline, set just before Congress breaks for a two-week recess, was set six months ago when the legislature passed a temporary stopgap resolution after a hopeless deadlock prevented a full spending package from being implemented. If the bill passes the Senate before midnight, the federal government will be fully funded through September 30th.
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On Monday, Rep. Greene spoke out strongly against the spending proposal, saying that “no Republican in good conscience can vote for the uniparty minibus.”
“This is not a Republican bill. It is a Chuck Schumer, Democrat-controlled bill coming from the ‘Republican-controlled’ House,” she said at the time. “The Speaker of the House should not bring it to the floor.”
No Republican in good conscience can vote for the uniparty minibus.
This is not a Republican bill. It is a Chuck Schumer, Democrat-controlled bill coming from the “Republican-controlled” House.
The Speaker of the House should not bring it to the floor. pic.twitter.com/EGosNo5Sz7
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) March 22, 2024
Following the passage of the bill, Greene placed the blame squarely on Johnson and introduced a motion to vacate the speakership. Johnson has only held the Speaker’s gavel for just over five months following the ousting of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in October. McCarthy faced similar opposition from members of the House Freedom Caucus who objected to earlier drafts of the spending package.
McCarthy’s ouster, the fractured Republican majority spent the better part of a month cycling through a lineup of candidates before Johnson was able to drum up enough support. However, even after Johnson assumed the speakership, the looming threat of another motion to vacate lingered within the far-right of the Republican Party.
When filing her motion to vacate, Greene did not mark the resolution “privileged,” a procedural tool that would have required House leadership to hold a vote on the issue within two legislative days. As such, the motion will not be considered until after the recess. However, Greene may mark it as such at a later date.
“It’s more of a warning and a pink slip,” Greene told reporters after filing the motion. “There’s not a time limit on this, it doesn’t have to be forced… But I’m not saying that it won’t happen in two weeks, or it won’t happen.”
If the motion passes the requisite procedural steps and is sent to committee, Johnson can only afford to lose two Republican votes if all Democrats vote against him.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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