Hard-line House Republicans are blasting Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over the passage of his four-pronged foreign aid package on Saturday, claiming that his days are numbered. However, they deflected on when a motion to vacate could come to the House floor.
A bipartisan House voted to pass aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Indo-Pacific nations, as well as a national security package comprised of sanctions and a TikTok divestiture bill to force the sale of the Chinese parent company. The Ukraine bill did not get a majority of the GOP conference — a red flag for Johnson as he awaits a motion to vacate the chair from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
Though she expressed outrage at the passage of the foreign aid package as a “sellout of America,” Greene did not immediately move forward with the motion to vacate, which has two co-sponsors, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ).
“This is the third betrayal by Mike Johnson,” Greene said, pointing to the passage of the two-part minibus and the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act last week.
“And then he did this bulls**t in here on the House floor: foreign war package that does nothing for America. It’s unbelievable,” the Georgia congresswoman continued.
She said she wants to be “responsible” about handling the motion to vacate Johnson and “I support my majority.”
“I do not support Mike Johnson. He’s already a lame duck,” Greene said. “If we have the vote today in our conference, he would not be speaker today.”
If a motion to vacate does come to the floor, Johnson’s razor-thin GOP majority means he may need to rely on House Democrats to save his speakership. Ahead of Saturday’s vote, several Democrats told reporters that a discussion on a motion to vacate had not been had.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), who sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said he would implore Democratic leadership to take “the view that you shouldn’t punish somebody for doing the right thing.”
“I know Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to do that. I don’t,” Sherman said.
“Our leadership doesn’t believe that I, or Johnson, or anybody in between should suffer because we’re voting for this package of bills,” the congressman added.
However, if Democrats save Johnson, Massie believes Johnson will be “tainted at that point.”
“Because I don’t think it’s ever been done, that Democrats would save him. The question would then be the same question we have today, which is, what did he trade?” Massie said.
“What was he trading with the Democrats in exchange to maintain power long enough to pass this foreign aid bill? We don’t know there and we won’t know if he crosses the aisle to get Democrats,” Massie continued.
Massie had previously called on Johnson to resign. If he does not, the Kentucky Republican is “pretty sure” a motion to vacate will come to the floor.
“Will the Democrats save him from a motion to vacate all that sort of stuff? Do we want to go through trying to replace him mid-term? You know, those are questions that are up in the air, but one that is without doubt is he can’t win on January 3, 2025,” Massie said, adding that Johnson’s fundraising numbers are not where they should be for a speaker.
“We need to have somebody in that position that can raise the money and grow our majority instead of losing it. He’s not that guy,” Massie added. “And that’s why even though he’s betrayed us three times, and we can’t see anything that’s immediately on the horizon that would cause us to be upset, that’s the big issue.”
For his part, Johnson defended the aid package after the vote saying it’s an improved version from what the Senate passed in February with greater accountability over Ukraine aid.
He acknowledged his critics but said it’s unrealistic to expect a “perfect” piece of legislation in a divided government. “But there is no question whatsoever that the House has made many strong improvements to the Senate bill,” Johnson said of the Democratic-controlled Senate. “And the product that we’ve sent over there is much better.”
Despite hard-liners blasting Johnson for his role in the foreign aid package, other House Republicans are praising the speaker for following his “compass.” Many hard-right conservatives were angered over the lack of border security measures in the package, despite Johnson putting a separate border bill on the floor Saturday. Though the border bill failed, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) believes Johnson made the “logical conclusion” by splitting aid and border security.
“I think it’s always been in his heart to be with Ukraine,” Bacon said of Johnson. “But also get it, the number one issue is the border. And I think he had to go through this journey to realize you’re not going to get much on the border until you get a new president.”
“I think he made the logical conclusion that just because we’re not getting this done over here, and failing, why should these also fail? And because these things are our national security interests too — one wrong doesn’t make three wrongs right,” Bacon added.
Bacon praised Johnson for not making decisions based on Greene’s threat to vacate the chair.
“He showed courage today,” the Nebraska Republican said. “He’s gonna go down in history as saying, ‘I’m gonna do the right thing. I don’t care about the vacate the chair.’ And that’s what leaders are made of. You can’t — you don’t want to be the leader that’s chasing someone that takes you down a bad path.”
“I think he followed his compass, he did the right thing. And she speaks for three or four people,” Bacon added, referring to Greene.
Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY) also commended Johnson for navigating the package to the House floor, particularly with a “very complicated Congress.”
“The speaker attempted to mold consensus when it was clear that the only path forward was a bipartisan effort to move forward with that, in a very democratic way,” Molinaro said. “It allowed every member to vote their conscience and vote their constituency — that is the way the House is supposed to work.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
When asked about the GOP members calling on Johnson to resign, Molinaro said, “They’re wrong and they shouldn’t.”
“I hope cooler heads prevail. I think we have to put an end to the Congressional hostage-taking,” Molinaro added.
