A handful of House Democrats say they will help House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) keep the gavel in the face of a potential conservative revolt, but it won't be free.
Democratic lawmakers willing to consider the issue say Johnson must first strike a deal with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York to give Democrats more of a say in the legislative process. Stated. In that case, they would be willing to provide votes to keep the Speaker in power.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said, “It's just like I said to Mr. McCarthy, 'Talk to Hakeem. There are people who can support you.'” He mentioned the former Speaker of the House (R-Calif.). He was ousted from his leadership post last year by disgruntled conservatives.
“I would say the same thing. [to Johnson]”
Cuellar is not the only Democrat to float the idea of bailing out Johnson.
“He's going to have to be more proactive than Kevin McCarthy to sit down with Hakeem Jeffries and talk about what we need to do to be helpful. Kevin told him to pound the sand. didn't want help,” said Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.).
“We're not offering it as a charity,” Kildee continued. “We would say, 'Listen, if we want Democrats to govern, we're going to have to get Democratic input.'”
Indeed, it is highly unlikely that Mr. Johnson would agree to such a power-sharing arrangement, and his gavel does not appear to be under any immediate threat from the Republicans who ousted Mr. McCarthy.
Still, Johnson's recent support for a bipartisan spending deal has infuriated some conservatives, prompting him to withdraw support for the deal and anchor deeper cuts to federal programs. They are requesting that another proposal be drafted.
Amid the internal fight, at least two Republicans, Rep. Chip Roy (Texas) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), have said that if Mr. Johnson is not satisfied, conservatives will He has already floated the possibility of introducing a motion to vacate his position as Speaker of the House. their demands.
Greene criticized Roy for not ruling out a motion to remove Prime Minister Johnson over a major spending deal, but the U.S. aid to Ukraine could be part of a larger spending package. , said he would consider such a motion himself.
“We don't need to trade $60 billion with Ukraine to secure our own borders,” Greene told reporters at the Capitol on Friday. “It's a failure, a losing strategy, and I will never support it. I will fight as much as I can, even if it means giving up the chair. And there are people who agree with me.”
The spending debate leaves Mr Johnson in much the same position as Mr McCarthy when he took the gavel through much of 2023. In other words, they are caught between the realities of divided government and pressure from conservatives to compromise with Democrats to fund the government. Significant spending cuts, even if it leads to closures.
At issue is House rules that would give a single lawmaker the power to begin the process of ousting the Speaker, as requested by conservatives at the beginning of this session. The change came back to haunt McCarthy and still infuriates his Republican supporters.
“I think the motion to vacate is a terrible idea,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, R.S.D.
Mr. McCarthy infuriated conservatives last spring when he supported a debt ceiling deal with President Biden, then infuriated them even more months later when he supported a bipartisan short-term spending deal to prevent a government shutdown. I let it happen. With the second agreement, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) took the unusual step of introducing a motion to vacate the speakership, which was ultimately approved by eight Republicans and all Democrats on the floor. It was approved.
Mr. Cuellar, a centrist Blue Dog Democrat, said he supported Mr. McCarthy's removal because the embattled former House speaker refused to ask Mr. Jeffries for help.
“They talked for about 20 minutes the night before and he never brought it up,” Cuellar said.
Mr Johnson said he was “not concerned” about a coup attempt from the right.
“Look, leadership is hard. You accept a lot of criticism,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill this week. “But remember, I'm a hardline conservative. That's what they called me.”
With Republicans clinging to a slim majority in the House and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) out for medical treatment until next month, it would take three Republicans to remove Johnson from the speakership. (if they were all Democrats) went along.
But if you do the math, it would take just a handful of Democrats to cross the aisle and rescue the Speaker from McCarthy's fate. Some Republicans are already claiming that Democrats are responsible for the systemic chaos that followed McCarthy's ouster, and for the instability that would follow if Johnson were to suffer the same downfall. .
“Part of the problem is that Democrats want to be rewarded for bringing positive change to the House and to America,” said Dusty Johnson, director of the moderate Republican Main Street Caucus. “There have certainly been times when I have voted for what I thought was good, regardless of party affiliation. [and] I never asked anyone to buy me out. I felt like we were here to vote for things that strengthen our country. And apparently not everyone believes that. ”
Dusty Johnson declined to say whether he was voting to save former Democratic Party Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California from an internal revolt, but he did not say whether he was voting to save former Democratic Party Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California from an internal revolt, but said he had defied Republican leaders and was voting to save President Biden's election. He pointed to the 2021 decision to certify the victory.
“I did not seek recompense for my vote on January 6th,” he said.
Democrats quickly rejected this argument, pointing out that voters would decide the outcome of the presidential election, leaving Congress with the minimum constitutional responsibility to formalize the outcome. In contrast, the speakership is decided by a vote of the House of Representatives rather than a popular vote, and historically the majority party has had the responsibility, and more typically the advantage, of filling the seat.
“It's up to the majority to decide that,” said Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.). “It's not up to us to save House Republicans.”
Many Democrats, including some with close personal ties to the new speaker, believe that given the opportunity, their party would vote overwhelmingly, perhaps unanimously, to remove the speaker from power. I expected it.
“Well, we're going to vote to vacate the chair, and I think all of us are, because we disagree on everything. You can't vote for someone who disagrees with you.” said Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.), who calls House Speaker Johnson a friend. “If there was a vote on whether he was a good person, an honest person, a decent person, I would definitely nominate him because he is a very good person, a very decent person. If you don't know, you'll say the opposite.
“But to vacate a chair? I would make a motion. vacate a chair. Try to get him out of there and get one of us that we trust in there,” Vargas said.
Mr. Takano expressed similar sentiments.
“If there is a motion to vacate, I would vote for Speaker Jeffries,” he said. “That's exactly what we're doing.”
Still, Jeffries himself expanded the concept It would form a “bipartisan governing coalition” to quell the threat posed by far-right agitators and “bring an end to the chaos in the House of Commons.”
Even the liberal Mr. Takano acknowledged that Mr. Johnson is willing to work with Mr. Biden and other Democrats on compromises to keep the government running, and that Mr. Johnson would remain in power in the event of a coup. acknowledged that it might be worth supporting.
“He's emerging as someone who's making a deal. And the test for me is, can we expect him to support making a deal with the Freedom Caucus faction, which is fundamentally anti-democratic? '' said Takano. “Obviously, it provides an opportunity for us to reach a more bipartisan understanding.”
Contributed by Emily Brooks.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
