House Democratic leaders have announced their intention to protect House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's, R-Ga., efforts to remove him from power. The joint statement, issued by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., comes as a response to Greene's motion to vacate the chair, filed nearly 40 days ago in protest of Johnson's handling of government funding and foreign aid.
"At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction," the Democratic leaders stated. "We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed."
The announcement was made just as Johnson began his weekly House GOP leadership press conference, prompting a flurry of questions from reporters. Johnson, who appeared to be unaware of the Democratic leaders' decision beforehand, defended his position, stating, "I have to do my job, we have to do what we believe to be the right thing. What the country needs right now is a functioning Congress."
Greene's resolution, which earned the support of only two other Republican representatives, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona, has largely fallen flat within the GOP. Even Johnson's critics in the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus have distanced themselves from the push to oust the Speaker, indicating little desire for a repeat of the three weeks of chaos that followed the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., last fall.
However, with the razor-thin majority Johnson oversees, it quickly became apparent that Democratic support would likely be necessary to keep him in power. Democratic leaders signaled in their statement that they would block Greene's measure in the initial vote to table it, effectively killing the resolution.
In response to the Democrats' announcement, Greene suggested she would move forward with the motion to vacate Johnson to put members on record. "If the Democrats want to elect him Speaker (and some Republicans want to support the Democrats' chosen Speaker), I'll give them the chance to do it," she posted on Tuesday. "I'm a big believer in recorded votes because putting Congress on record allows every American to see the truth and provides transparency to our votes."
When pressed on whether he would be comfortable relying on Democratic support to retain the gavel, Johnson said, "You hope you have the support of everyone, the entire country." He emphasized that he had not requested assistance from anyone and was focused on "getting the job done and getting the legislation passed."
The Democratic leaders' decision was announced at the conclusion of their caucus meeting on Tuesday morning, as House Republicans told CNN that the effort behind the motion to vacate Johnson's speakership was "dead." Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., stated, "No, it's dead," when asked if there had been any movement on the threat since the weeklong House recess.
Oklahoma Republican Kevin Hern, exiting the House Republican weekly conference meeting on Tuesday before the Democrats' announcement, downplayed the motion-to-vacate threats, telling reporters, "Nobody is talking about it."
