(NewsNation) — A bipartisan effort is pushing to stop the ousting of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., over his move to bring Ukraine aid to the House floor.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is leading the charge to oust Johnson. She said she wouldn’t back off but didn’t provide any specifics about how and when he would be replaced. This comes less than 24 hours after the House passed a $95 billion foreign aid package delivering billions to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Responding to Greene’s motion to vacate, Johnson says he is focused on doing the job.
“As I’ve said many times, I don’t walk around this building being worried about a motion to vacate. I have to do my job. We did. I’ve done what I believe to be the right thing, and that is to allow the House to work its will. And as I’ve said, you do the right thing, and you let the chips fall where they may,” he told reporters.
Two other Republican lawmakers have joined Greene’s effort, but the process to vote Johnson out has not yet been triggered.
Meanwhile, a number of Democrats have already gone on the record saying if a vote were to come up, they would back Johnson either by voting for him or not showing up for the vote at all.
While voting Johnson out as speaker would be a rare move by historical standards, this would be the second time in the past year that it’s happened. His predecessor, former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was voted out of the speakership last year in an effort orchestrated by Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. It had been McCarthy who cut a deal with conservatives allowing for a single member to bring a resolution to remove the speaker when he was first vying for the position, NewsNation partner “The Hill” noted.
House’s foreign aid package
Over the weekend, the House passed a $95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan over bitter objections from Republican hardliners.
With an overwhelming vote Saturday, the $61 billion in aid for Ukraine passed in a matter of minutes, a strong showing as American lawmakers race to deliver a fresh round of U.S. support to the war-torn ally. Many Democrats cheered on the House floor and waved blue-and-yellow flags of Ukraine.
Though the aid package had bipartisan support, Johnson faced resistance from several of his party members who were unhappy that it excluded border security funding.
“We did our work here, and I think history will judge it well,” said a weary Johnson.
Johnson’s appointment to speakership
Johnson tumbled into the speaker’s office last fall, a relative unknown who emerged after a chaotic internal party search to replace McCarthy, who was the first speaker in U.S. history to be removed from office.
Almost an accidental speaker, Johnson had no training and little time to prepare. One of his main accomplishments was helping to lead Donald Trump’s failed legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election loss to Joe Biden in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
From the start, the question hanging over the fourth-term Louisiana lawmaker was apparent: Would Johnson become a speaker with a firm grasp of the gavel, utilizing the power of the office that is second in the line of succession to the president?