'Embattled' Mike Johnson’s speakership may be on life support

10 April 2024

Half a year after former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) was ousted as House speaker following a "motion to vacate" triggered by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) is now in danger of suffering the same fate.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) is threatening to use the "motion to vacate" tool against Johnson. Supporters of the speaker were hoping that Greene would back down from her threat, but the far-right MAGA Republican has doubled down on it and continued to attack Johnson for being, as she sees it, too friendly with the Biden Administration when it comes to aid to Ukraine and funding the United States' federal government.

In an article published on April 10, Daily Beast reporters Riley Rogerson and Reese Gorman stress that the "embattled" Johnson is facing a range of problems — from a "motion to vacate" threat to a dysfunctional impeachment effort against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Although House Republicans impeached Mayorkas, the articles of impeachment have yet to be delivered to the U.S. Senate for consideration. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has said that when he receives the articles, he will move them "as expeditiously as possible." But that doesn't mean he believes the articles have any merit.

Moreover, conservative Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has said that a conviction of Mayorkas is unlikely and that he doesn't believe Mayorkas committed "a high crime or misdemeanor."

"As an embattled Johnson nears his sixth month of the speakership," Rogerson and Gorman explain, "the criticism is nothing new. And while the self-inflicted wound of the Mayorkas impeachment is his latest humiliation, it's hardly his only one. It might even turn out to be a footnote in Johnson's challenging week ahead. That's because the speaker is trying to navigate two of the most fraught issues in his conference: a controversial surveillance program due for reauthorization and Ukraine aid."

The reporters continue, "Just about every lawmaker on Capitol Hill recognizes that Johnson is in an unwinnable, and unworkable, position…. Hanging over all these discussions is a motion to oust Johnson — initiated by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — that she could force a vote on this week."

Rogerson and Gorman note that Greene's "motion to vacate" threat has "come to represent a sword of Damocles hanging over Johnson for a litany of reasons" and is "the physical manifestation of discontent that's been mounting on Johnson's right flank for months."

A GOP lawmaker, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told the Beast that Johnson is in a "strategically untenable" position. But House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told the Beast, "I don't think a third speaker in one Congress — six months before an election — is probably where we need to go."

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) defended Johnson, telling the Beast, "He has an impossible job to do, and he deserves our support. That does not mean that we're going to agree with every decision that he makes, and sometimes, we'll have fundamental disagreements. But the motion to vacate should be reserved for the most egregious conditions."

Read The Daily Beast's full report at this link (subscription required).

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