Marjorie Taylor Greene’s attempt to vote on firing Speaker Mike Johnson threatens to return the House to leaderless paralysis for the second time in six months.
But it also poses real dangers to the frustrated conservatives she claims to represent — and some worry she could push Johnson to work with Democrats on Ukraine aid.
The Georgia Republican introduced a resolution impeaching Johnson last week, but she has not said when she will force a vote. She describes it as an early warning to the speaker after he pushed through a funding deal with the government that his right flank loathed. Should Greene decide to extend that vote later next month, after Johnson’s margin has shrunk to just one vote, she may need just one colleague on her side to fire him — as long as Democrats unite against saving his track.
“You have to take her very seriously,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker last year but said he is “not there yet” to join Greene’s anti-Johnson action.
‘Marjorie plays chess, not checkers. She looks at the long game and holds all the cards,” Burchett added. “And I think it’s an effort on her part to move the Republican Party into a more conservative area — where our base is.”
But with Johnson increasingly looking to Democrats to pass major bills, including a $1.2 trillion spending plan that most of his conference opposed, Greene’s latest chess move could backfire spectacularly. There is no guarantee that Republicans will join her in removing Johnson, as even many conservatives are not interested in removing another speaker. Yet some have not ruled it out – and Johnson has no room to maneuver in his slim majority.
The speaker could therefore ultimately respond to her threat by giving the Democrats speaking time on Ukraine, while the Republican from Louisiana actively decides on a further course of action regarding the foreign aid package. That might be enough to secure a few Democratic votes to save his job.
One House Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly, summed up the fear: Greene’s move could “provide aid to Ukraine” by leaving Johnson no choice but to find common cause with Democrats. “Wouldn’t that be rich,” that member added sarcastically.
Interviews with more than a dozen Republican members and aides indicate a clear divide between Johnson’s allies and his critics on the right. The speaker’s supporters are rejecting Greene, arguing that there is little appetite within the conference to relive a divisive leadership battle that would plunge the House of Representatives into chaos in an election year.
A smaller number of conservatives, like Burchett, are warning that Greene’s move poses a real danger to Johnson as he faces two major policy battles next month — one over foreign aid and the other over renewing controversial government spy powers. Both issues promise to drive a wedge in the already fractured Republican conference.
But for now, even some Republican rebels, who had no qualms about deposing McCarthy, are slamming Greene.
“She’s on McCarthy’s revenge tour,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-Va.), one of eight Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach McCarthy, said during a campaign stop on Tuesday. “We are not talking about removing the speaker. We’re trying to influence him to do the right thing.”
Another House Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly about Greene, described her ouster of Johnson as “the narcissist who wants more attention.”
In addition to Good, five of the other six Republicans currently in office who ousted McCarthy from the presidency currently oppose or are maintaining any move against Johnson.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a key foe of McCarthy, recalled at the campaign event with Good that he told Johnson he was “consistently disappointed in his performance as speaker.” But Biggs added about expelling the Louisianan: “I don’t think it’s going to happen, regardless of whether we want it to.”
However, Greene has claimed that she has silent supporters. Conservatives have increasingly criticized Johnson’s leadership, believing he is either receiving bad advice or is unwilling to fight for their priorities in the way they hoped when they helped elect him.
However, Johnson’s relationship with his right flank differs significantly from McCarthy’s, which could increase his chances of survival. Several hardliners have said they found McCarthy willing to lie to them — unlike Johnson, whom they generally like as a person.
And much of the private chatter from Johnson’s biggest critics has focused on next year’s leadership slate, including floating speaker alternatives if the Republican Party has a majority in November.
Still, some might remain strategically silent to see how Johnson navigates the foreign aid debate in particular. The Georgia firebrand has pushed up her own timetable for filing a so-called motion to vacate the speaker’s chair, first saying she would do so if Johnson were to pass a Ukrainian bill — and then moving her goalposts after the spending agreement had been adopted.
Once Greene wants to attach “privilege” to her resolution to impeach Johnson, if she makes good on her promise last week, GOP leaders will have 48 legislative hours to bring it up. Greene would not say when she would reach a vote. She says she wants to give her conference time to come up with alternatives and avoid the weeks of chaos that followed McCarthy’s ouster.
But whenever that happened, Johnson could get help from Democrats, who refused to extend the same hand to McCarthy.
That’s because while the conservative speaker doesn’t have much ideological overlap with Democrats, a significant number of people in the House minority are loath to repeat the frenetic vacuum of the post-McCarthy period. Some in the party are also watching what Johnson does with the long-awaited foreign aid package and are likely to vote to protect him if a majority votes in favor.
“We’re going to have a Republican speaker anyway. And I think, why would you want to go through that nightmare that we went through before because they can’t get their act together? said Rep. Scott Peters (D-California). He urged Republicans to change the one-person threshold to force a vote on impeaching the chairman because it “affects us all.”
Still, Peters’ prediction that the House will retain a Republican chairman no matter what is not ironclad. And House Democrats are unlikely to get ahead of their own leaders in an anti-Johnson vote; The caucus is expected to have a conversation before deciding on any action.
If Democrats stick together and withhold any support from Johnson after his margin shrinks to one vote, Greene’s effort could even result in a chairman of their party or a coalition government.
It’s an outcome clearly identified by Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who was initially non-committal about Greene’s efforts before ruling out an impeachment of Johnson.
“I don’t agree with what Marjorie did. We have a majority of one seat… If you want to put it [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries in and then do exactly what she does,” Norman said in an interview.
Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.