The top three Democratic leaders in the House announced Tuesday they will vote to block a rogue House Republican from moving to oust GOP Speaker Mike Johnson.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said in a statement they will vote against an arcane motion to “vacate the chair” that GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plans to bring up on the House floor.
“If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed,” said Mr. Jeffries, of New York.
Moderate Democrats backing Mr. Jeffries see the move as both a reward to Mr. Johnson for helping usher through a foreign aid package earlier this month that provided more than $60 billion to Ukraine, and as an instrument to give Democrats even more leverage within the GOP’s very narrow majority.
“He was a man of his word and kept his word, I would encourage him to continue to communicate with our leadership,” said Rep. Annie Kuster, New Hampshire Democrat and head of the New Democrat Coalition, a faction of moderates.
The announcement by the trio of Democratic leaders infuriated Ms. Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican who said he’d vote with Ms. Greene to oust Mr. Johnson.
The two accused Mr. Johnson of essentially entering into a power-sharing agreement with Democrats.
“Are you still working together to eliminate the motion to vacate so you can share power forever?” Mr. Massie asked both Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jeffries in a post on X.
House lawmakers had been awaiting Ms. Greene’s next move. She has been threatening to bring up the motion and, with the expectation that all Democrats would vote along with her, it would pass and end Mr. Johnson’s speakership.
The House would then be thrown into chaos as GOP lawmakers would struggle to elect a replacement.
Ms. Greene, of Georgia, and Mr. Massie are unhappy about legislation that Mr. Johnson has ushered through the House with the help of Democrats, including a massive government spending bill and most recently a foreign aid package that lacked any U.S. border security measures.
Now that the trio of Democratic leaders has pledged to block Ms. Greene, her leverage has been practically eliminated. Ms. Greene was a no-show Monday night for votes in the House. On Tuesday, she was seen in the parliamentarian’s office with Mr. Massie, who is planning a Wednesday press conference.
On X, Ms. Greene called Mr. Johnson “officially the Democrat Speaker of the House” and asked, “What slimy back room deal did Johnson make for the Democrats’ support?”
Democrats have been debating for weeks whether to vote to save Mr. Johnson if Ms. Greene brought her motion to a vote. Many Democrats told The Washington Times their support would hinge on Mr. Johnson pushing through the security package, which provided funding for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, funding for Israel’s war against the terrorist organization Hamas, and humanitarian aid for civilians impacted by the war.
In October, all Democrats voted with eight Republicans, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, to invoke a similar motion which removed then-GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy. It left the chamber unable to legislate for weeks while Republicans fought over a replacement before they finally elected Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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