House Democratic leaders confirm they’ll back Johnson if 'pro-Putin' MTG tries to remove him

30 April 2024

Even though House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) is the most conservative Republican speaker in decades — if not in U.S. history — he has found an unlikely ally in his efforts to keep the gavel: House Democrats.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) threatened to remove Johnson as speaker after he allowed a vote on a $95 billion foreign aid package to come up on the House floor. Greene's motion was supported by far-right Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), meaning that if all Democrats voted with those three, the House of Representatives would have to elect a new speaker. And because Republicans' majority is so small, the possibility of House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) being elected speaker with the help of a handful of Republicans who just want to get back to governing was not out of the realm of possibility.

However, in a statement published Tuesday, Jeffries, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Masschusetts) and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-California) promised that Johnson would have the backing of House Democrats if Greene followed through on her threats to oust him via a motion to vacate. They specifically cited Johnson's work to pass the foreign aid legislation as the primary reason for their support.

"For months, House Republicans irresponsibly delayed critical security assistance to our democratic allies in Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific, while simultaneously blocking humanitarian assistance to civilians in harm's way in places like Gaza, Haiti and the Sudan," the statement read. "Thanks to a bipartisan coalition of Democrats and Republicans, led by President Biden, we were finally able to meet the national security needs of the American people."

"From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have put people over politics and found bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans in order to deliver real results," House Democratic leaders continued. "At the same time, House Democrats have aggressively pushed back against MAGA extremism. We will continue to do just that."

"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. We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Motion to Vacate the Chair," they added. "If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed."

The statement confirms the isolated statements of several other House Democrats after Greene first broached the topic of vacating Johnson. Greene first suggested a motion to vacate after Johnson passed a $1.2 trillion appropriations bill to keep government agencies funded and stave off a shutdown. Several unnamed House Democrats told Axios that they would support Johnson if the motion came up, and Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) said on the record he back Johnson, despite disagreeing with him politically.

"I do not support Speaker Johnson but I will never stand by and let MTG to[sic] take over the people’s House," Moskowitz said in March.

Momentum behind Greene's effort to oust Johnson appears to have sputtered following the foreign aid legislation passing and being signed into law by President Joe Biden. In addition to Democrats, several Republicans have suggested that Greene's motion is ill-advised. When asked recently if he thought Greene should bring the motion, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) — who is in the same MAGA faction as the Georgia Republican — said he "hopes not."

Gaetz's lack of support for Greene's motion is significant, as he led the effort to force out former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) last fall over his bipartisan efforts to keep the U.S. government current on its debt service obligations. All Democrats voted with Gaetz and seven other Republicans to vacate McCarthy in October. This made him the first sitting speaker in U.S. history to be removed via a motion to vacate the chair fielded by his own party. McCarthy left the House in December of 2023.

Click here to read Democratic leaders' full statement.

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