On Wednesday night, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia raved on the House steps: “We needed to bring a bill to the floor that the majority supported.”
In other words, Republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives with 217 members. So Greene insists at least 109 Republicans need to support the issue before it can be voted on. “The majority within the majority.”
Possible issues (for Chairman Johnson’s leadership)
But Greene didn’t always practice what he preached.
In a bold move, Greene had just swayed a resolution to impeach House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from office. The House decisively defeated Greene’s effort to oblige Congress by a vote of 359-43. 7 members voted for the giveaway.
Greene is a member of the majority party. However, 196 of the 217 members of the House Republican Conference voted to reject Greene’s motion to remove Johnson.
It is clearly the majority of the majority.
As I say again and again, it’s about the math.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). (Getty Images)
In fact, only 11 Republicans, including Greene, voted in favor of recalling the speaker. However, as promised by House Democratic leadership, a whopping 163 Democrats voted to defend Johnson. It was perhaps one of the most unusual bipartisan votes on Capitol Hill in decades – especially given the fact that the minority party was successful in protecting Mr. Johnson and retaining the speakership.
But let’s be clear: Had Democratic reinforcements not arrived, Johnson would no longer be occupying the Speaker’s Office. Last fall, only eight Republicans voted to fire former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). But this time around, 11 Republicans appear to want to flip Johnson, even though the Republican majority is narrower than it was eight months ago.
“Democrats saved him,” Greene fumed. “(Former House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) voted for him. Pelosi doesn’t vote for Republicans unless they have full control of the House. (House Minority Leader) Hakeem Jeffries (New York) (Rep.) Jerry Nadler, D-Md., they all voted for Mike Johnson.
media scrum
Ms. Greene secured lengthy audiences in Mr. Johnson’s office on both Monday and Tuesday to air Mr. Johnson’s grievances. And after each meeting, a large scrum of reporters gathered around Green.
On Monday night, reporters occupied the Capitol’s Statuary Hall, right in front of the Sam Houston statue. By Wednesday night, the daily press forum with Greene had disappeared all the way to the House steps. Greene was in such high demand among her reporters that the House Radio/TV Gallery staff brought out a microphone stand for her.
The House of Commons effectively functions as a parliament, with Mike Johnson as ‘Prime Minister’.
“Oh, are you talking about me?” Greene asked as she carefully walked down the House steps Wednesday night after the vote to deflect the speaker’s ruse. A swarm of mobile photographers glided delicately next to her, taking pictures as if they were trained in ballet.
Ms. Greene may have captured the attention of Congressional reporters, at least temporarily, as reporters wondered if and when she would move against Mr. Johnson. But Mr. Greene’s relationship with his Republican colleagues took a hit. Kendrick Lamar and Drake are on better terms than Greene and most House Republicans.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) briefly heckled Greene as she descended the Capitol steps to speak to reporters.
“You can be productive, or you can be destructive. Ms. Taylor Greene is choosing to be destructive,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson (R.S.D.). “It will sow discord and dissent.”
“Marjorie in Moscow is clearly off the deep end, probably because of the space laser,” said Rep. Mike Lawler (RN.Y.).
Only 11 Republicans, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, voted for House Speaker Mike Johnson’s anticipated recall. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite/Pool/File)
“Marjorie is going to be in a very lonely place,” predicted Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio).
Late Wednesday afternoon, dozens of Republicans yelled and booed when Greene called for a resolution to remove Johnson. In fact, no one was sure whether Green would go all the way or just continue milking his schemes. After all, Greene first announced her intention to push back against Johnson in mid-March. Some Democrats are even wondering if Ms. Greene’s daily summit meetings with Mr. Johnson might force her to reconsider her defense of the speaker.
“When Speaker Johnson meets with her for hours, people should ask, ‘What is Marjorie Taylor Greene getting out of her?'” said Ted Lieu, vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. (D-Calif.) asked.
No support
My colleague Tyler Olson followed up, asking if Democrats would still support Johnson.
“It depends on what Marjorie Taylor Greene can extract,” Liu replied.
In the end, Green clearly couldn’t extract any concessions from Johnson. It’s not like she gave the chairman much of a chance. The next day she dialed up to have her chair vacated. Support for Green’s operation never materialized.
Marjorie Taylor Greene calls Johnson’s foreign aid package a ‘third betrayal’ of the American people
“A few weeks ago, when I filed the motion, I said, ‘This is like a pink slip.’ And in my mind, if this is a warning to Mike Johnson, I was hoping to shake him awake,” Green said. “And apparently that didn’t serve as a wake-up call at all.”
Ironically, the House of Representatives avoided a relatively low-profile disaster on Wednesday thanks to Democrats’ support for Johnson. The House of Representatives voted on a temporary bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for one week. The vote came just before Greene introduced a motion to remove Johnson. The House pre-emptively approved the bill this week in anticipation of a unanimous Senate vote. The Senate then moved quickly to pass a bill and interim measures that would re-strengthen the FAA for five years.
Based on the 11 Republicans who voted alongside Greene, the House likely would have voted to declare the speakership vacant if Democrats had not bailed out Johnson. Just like last October. If the Speaker is vacant, the House will be closed. I’m paralyzed. It can’t do anything.
That would put the FAA at risk.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) speaks in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Ting Sheng/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Indeed, the Senate likely agreed with the House on a stopgap bill for the FAA, as it did Thursday night. However, the constitutional officer of the House of Representatives, the Speaker or his designee, must sign the “enrollment bill” (a bill approved by both chambers) before it can be sent to the President for signature. So even if the Senate later coordinates with the House on a makeshift FAA bill, approval could lapse without a Speaker to sign the bill.
Could the acting speaker pro tempore sign the bill? Maybe. But opponents could challenge its legality.
democratic intervention
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R.N.C.), a former House speaker pro tem, did little other than gavel the House in and out of session when he filled the vacancy after Mr. McCarthy’s resignation. There wasn’t.
That’s the problem with emptying chairs. The House of Representatives will go into a cryogenic state until it elects a speaker. Last October, it took 22 days to tap the speaker. Who knows how long this situation will take?
Democratic intervention saved Johnson’s chair. But it also kept planes in the air, controllers in control towers, and travelers on planes. That might not have been the case if Democrats had followed their own path since October, when they refused to support Mr. McCarthy.
So what’s next for Green? Are there likely to be consequences? Sanctions? Shun? Any further resignation motions? Green did not rule out that possibility this week.
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Anything is possible.
But House members are used to the chaos by now.
“One dumpster fire at a time,” Dusty Johnson said.
