Jeffries says Dems could save Speaker Johnson from efforts to remove

[RAY BOGAN]

The top Democrat in the House of Representatives suggested members of his party could vote to save Speaker Mike Johnson if his GOP colleagues move to oust him. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is threatening to bring a motion to vacate forward if Johnson holds a vote on a bill to provide funding for Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific region and civilians in Gaza. 

[HAKEEM JEFFRIES]

“Now I’ve made the observation, not a declaration, the observation that if the speaker were to do the right thing and allow the House to works its will with an up or down vote on the national security bill, then I believe there are a reasonable number of Democrats who would not want to see the speaker fall as a result of doing the right thing,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters.  

[RAY BOGAN]

It’s unclear how many Democrats would vote in Johnson’s favor if a motion to vacate is brought forward. Regardless, Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., told SAN that Johnson needs to work more closely with Leader Jeffries if he wants to get bills passed in a nearly evenly divided Congress. 

[DAN KILDEE]

“If the speaker recognizes that going forward the only way we’re going to get things done is by working together, he can’t on one day ask for our help when he can’t get something done and on the next day treat us like we don’t exist,”  Kildee said. 

[RAY BOGAN]

Johnson said there are many options under consideration for both the foreign aid package and a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the government to spy on foreigners outside the United States without a warrant. 

[GREENE]

“How he handles the FISA process and how he handles funding Ukraine is going to tell our entire conference how to handle the motion to vacate,” Greene said. 

[RAY BOGAN]

Greene wrote a letter to her Republican colleagues explaining that her lack of confidence in the Speaker began with his decision to move a government funding bill forward that did not include many Republican policy priorities. 

Johnson stands by his decision, saying the other option was a government shutdown. 

[JOHNSON]

“I just don’t think that would be helpful to us, from a political standpoint, for the Republican party to continue to govern, to maintain, keep and then grow our majority in November. I thought that would have been a great hindrance to it,” Speaker Johnson said. “So that wouldn’t be helpful, nor does a motion to vacate help us in that regard either. It would be chaos in the House.” 

[RAY BOGAN]

It’s unclear how many Republicans would vote to remove Johnson. The House shutdown for three weeks after Kevin McCarthy was ousted. Lawmakers openly shared what a frustrating and stressful process it was to choose a replacement and don’t want to go through it again.