Ocasio Cortez says Democrats won’t save Johnson ‘for free’ 

Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (New York) on Sunday expelled House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) for “freedom” following accusations from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) Democrats said they would not vote to prevent that from happening. Last week, a motion was made to resign as chairman.

Some of his Democratic colleagues in the New York Progressives indicated they might be willing to help save the speaker from a motion to vacate him, especially if he moves to help Ukraine. Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday that her support for the speaker comes at a price.

“Dear Democrats, I believe we work as a team. I have no intention of voting for Speaker Johnson. I do not believe in women’s rights, I do not believe in bodily autonomy, and I do not believe in overturning the presidential election. I’m not going to vote for someone who supported that, for the speaker,” Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. Union. “

“My vote would probably be for Speaker.” [Hakeem] jeffries [D-N.Y.], which is becoming more likely to become a reality by the day as Republicans pursue further midterm resignations. But I don’t think they’re doing it for free for us or for Democrats,” she continued.

Greene took the first step toward ousting Johnson after the House of Representatives passed a spending package to avert a partial government shutdown just hours before a midnight Friday deadline. The package received votes from both sides of the aisle, but drew the ire of House conservatives.

Greene last week called the motion “basically a warning” and signaled that she did not intend to immediately trigger a vote on Johnson’s removal. She said she could force a referendum on his position in the House of Commons in the future.

Some House Democrats said last week that they may be willing to save Mr. Johnson from a motion to remove him, but that part will depend on how he handles his support for Ukraine.

The possibility of another House speaker change comes just months after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), now retired from Congress, was ousted from office. Although chaos continued for nearly three weeks after McCarthy’s ouster, some Democratic lawmakers seem willing to cooperate to avoid a recurrence.

But Ocasio-Cortez argued that Democrats’ support for Johnson should not be “out of sympathy” for the Republican conference.

“I don’t think they’re doing that out of sympathy for the Republican Party. I think the reality of governance is there, we want to make sure that governance continues and that responsible governance continues. But that tends to happen under a Democratic majority,” she said Sunday.

The Hill has reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.