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Draft:Attempt to remove Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House

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On March 22, 2024, Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to remove Mike Johnson as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives through a motion to vacate. The motion is opposed by the leadership of the majority House Republican Conference and the minority House Democratic Caucus.

Taylor Greene officially invoked the motion on May 8, 2024.[1] The motion was tabled (killed) in a 359–43 vote.[2][3]

Process and replacement

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Removing the speaker of the House necessitates the use of a motion to vacate. As part of negotiations for Kevin McCarthy's speakership, any single representative can initiate a motion to vacate.[4] The motion takes the form of a simple resolution. The provision had only been used three times in the House of Representatives. In 1910, against Joseph G. Cannon,[5][6] in 2015, against John Boehner, and in 2023, against Kevin McCarthy.

A representative must file the resolution and request a vote; as a privileged resolution, the vote must occur within two legislative days. A vote may be blocked if the resolution is tabled or sent to committee. If passed, an internal list penned by Speaker Johnson would appoint a speaker pro tempore until a new speaker was named. An election would then begin.[7]

Background

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Main article: 118th United States Congress
Further information: Removal of Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House and 2024 United States federal budget

Following the 2022 midterm elections, the Republican Party won 222 seats in the House of Representatives, while the Democratic Party won 213 seats. The Democratic Party won a narrow, 2-seat majority in the Senate. The Freedom Caucus, a far-right[8] caucus of Republicans, secured roughly 45 seats.[a] Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader during the previous 117th Congress, was elected speaker of the House after 15 rounds of voting, but only after giving concessions to his opponents, who were mostly Freedom Caucus members. These concessions included lowering the threshold to file a privileged motion to vacate the chair to one member.[10] The Freedom Caucus persuaded McCarthy to refuse to raise the debt ceiling and threaten a default, leading to the 2023 United States debt ceiling crisis. McCarthy agreed to a deal to end the crisis, which set funding levels for the next two fiscal years, but after conservative opposition, McCarthy announced he would put appropriations legislation on the floor with much lower spending levels, as well as many riders containing conservative priorities. These bills were quickly rejected by the Democratic-led Senate,[11] and Republican disagreements prevented some of them from passing.[12][13] By September, the federal government appeared poised to shut down,[14] but at the last minute, McCarthy announced he would put a continuing resolution on the floor without any spending cuts or riders, as long as it did not include aid to Ukraine.[15] The CR passed easily despite strong conservative opposition, but Representative Matt Gaetz filed a motion to vacate, citing McCarthy working with Democrats and breaking the agreement reached in the January speaker vote.[16] McCarthy was then removed by a 216-210 vote, with 8 Republicans and all voting Democrats voting to remove.[17]

Johnson's speakership

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Further information: October 2023 speaker of the United States House of Representatives election

Following McCarthy's removal, the Republican conference voted to nominate Majority Leader Steve Scalise for speaker, but after facing opposition from both moderates and hardliners, he dropped out.[18] Following Scalise's dropout, Johnson considered running for speaker, but declined, endorsing Jim Jordan, a co-founder of the Freedom Caucus in 2015.[19][20] Jordan won the conference's nomination, but after losing three straight floor votes, the conference voted to remove him as the nominee.[21] Nine candidates, including Johnson, announced a run for speaker, with Majority Whip Tom Emmer beating Johnson in the final round to become the conference's nominee, before dropping out four hours later after it was clear he could not get a majority of the whole house on the floor.[22] Johnson was then chosen as the fourth nominee. On October 20, he was elected speaker, with all Republicans voting for him.[23]

During the more than three weeks it took for House Republicans to elect a speaker, they were unable to pass any appropriations legislation. Johnson announced he would support another continuing resolution to extend funding for some departments until January 19 and others until February 2.[24] Conservatives opposed the measures, but were not ready to offer a motion to vacate.[25]

On January 7, 2024, congressional appropriators reached an agreement on the topline spending levels for 2024 which was not substantially different from the deal negotiated by McCarthy.[26][27] Hardliners attempted to push Johnson to abandon the deal, initially claiming that he had done so before Johnson clarified that he hadn't.[28] As negotiations continued over the full-year funding bills, conservatives pushed Johnson to instead endorse a full-year continuing resolution, which under McCarthy's deal would result in automatic spending cuts.[29]

On March 6, 2024, the House passed a $459 billion "minibus" spending package containing six of the twelve appropriations bills. The bill provides funding for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Energy, Interior, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development. It also provides appropriations for the EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other military construction.[30] The rightmost faction of the Republican conference harshly opposed the deal, arguing it did not contain any substantial conservative policy wins.[31] On March 22, 2024, the House passed a second $741 billion minibus to fund the remaining departments, which was also opposed by the right flank of the Republican party.[32]

On April 20, 2024, the House passed a supplemental appropriations bill that included funding for Israel, Ukraine and Indo-Pacific allies and imposed further sanctions on enemies of the United States. The bill was also opposed by the right flank of the Republican party.[33][34][35][36]

Proposals to increase the threshold

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When announcing he would not run again for speaker, McCarthy advised the next speaker to change the motion to vacate threshold. This would require a majority vote of the full House.[37] A few of the hardline Republicans indicated an openness to the idea.[38] Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said that Republicans should get rid of the motion to vacate as it makes the speaker's job "impossible."[39] On October 30, Representative Max Miller introduced a resolution to increase the threshold to 112 members,[40] but as of March 2024, it has not received any cosponsors, and is awaiting a vote in committee.[41] Johnson has not endorsed any effort to increase the threshold, but stated in March 2024 that "there will probably be a change" to the motion to vacate during the next congress.[42]

Motion to vacate

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On March 22, 2024, Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a resolution to remove Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House, after the latter put up for a vote a minibus spending bill opposed by a majority of the Republican Conference (thereby violating the Hastert convention). The resolution was non-privileged and did not trigger an immediate vote, due to Greene's decision to introduce it through regular channels rather than on the floor. Greene claimed the resolution was merely "a warning" and didn't commit to forcing a vote on it.[43][44] Over the next month, two Republicans, Thomas Massie and Paul Gosar, joined as cosponsors.[45][46] Republicans' extremely slim margin in the House means that, if all Democrats were to join the three Republican rebels in voting for Greene's resolution, Johnson would be ousted.[47] However, on April 30, House Democratic leaders announced that they would provide the votes to save Johnson.[48] Opponents of Johnson were initially considered unlikely to force a vote on the resolution unless or until it has enough support to pass,[49] but following the announcement, Greene announced she would trigger the motion to vacate during the week of May 6.[50] The motion was officially triggered on May 8.

Motion to table

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Immediately after the motion was invoked, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise asked for a vote to table (kill) the motion to vacate. The vote to table was successful, meaning the motion to vacate was removed from consideration and Mike Johnson was allowed to remain as Speaker.

Vote to table
Party Yes No Present Not voting
Republican 196 11 — 10
Democratic 163 32 7 11
Percentage Green tickY89.3% 10.7% —
Total votes Green tickY 359 43 7 21
Members who voted against the motion to table or voted present
District Member Party Vote
California 44 Nanette Diaz Barragán Democrat Red X NoN
Arizona 5 Andy Biggs Republican Red X NoN
New York 16 Jamaal Bowman Democrat Red X NoN
Missouri 7 Eric Burlison Republican Red X NoN
Missouri 1 Cori Bush Democrat Red X NoN
Texas 35 Greg Casar Democrat Red X NoN
Texas 20 Joaquin Castro Democrat Red X NoN
California 28 Judy Chu Democrat  Present
New York 9 Yvette D. Clarke Democrat Red X NoN
Arizona 2 Eli Crane Republican Red X NoN
Virginia 11 Gerald E. Connolly Democrat Red X NoN
Ohio 8 Warren Davidson Republican Red X NoN
Colorado 1 Diana DeGette Democrat Red X NoN
Texas 37 Lloyd Doggett Democrat Red X NoN
Texas 16 Veronica Escobar Democrat Red X NoN
Florida 10 Maxwell Frost Democrat Red X NoN
California 8 John Garamendi Democrat Red X NoN
Illinois 4 Chuy García Democrat  Present
Texas 29 Sylvia R. Garcia Democrat Red X NoN
California 42 Robert Garcia Democrat Red X NoN
California 34 Jimmy Gomez Democrat Red X NoN
Arizona 9 Paul A. Gosar Republican Red X NoN
Georgia 14 Marjorie Taylor Greene Republican Red X NoN
California 9 Josh Harder Democrat Red X NoN
Illinois 1 Jonathan Jackson Democrat Red X NoN
Washington 7 Pramila Jayapal Democrat Red X NoN
California 37 Sydney Kamlager-Dove Democrat Red X NoN
California 12 Barbara Lee Democrat Red X NoN
Pennsylvania 12 Summer Lee Democrat Red X NoN
Kentucky 4 Thomas Massie Republican Red X NoN
New Jersey 8 Robert Menendez Democrat Red X NoN
West Virginia 2 Alexander X. Mooney Republican Red X NoN
Alabama 2 Barry Moore Republican Red X NoN
New York 14 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Democrat Red X NoN
Minnesota 5 Ilhan Omar Democrat  Present
Wisconsin 2 Mark Pocan Democrat  Present
Massachusetts 7 Ayanna Pressley Democrat Red X NoN
Illinois 3 Delia C. Ramirez Democrat Red X NoN
Texas 21 Chip Roy Republican Red X NoN
New York 18 Patrick Ryan Democrat Red X NoN
Pennsylvania 5 Mary Gay Scanlon Democrat Red X NoN
Illinois 9 Janice D. Schakowsky Democrat  Present
Indiana 5 Victoria Spartz Republican Red X NoN
California 39 Mark Takano Democrat  Present
Michigan 12 Rashida Tlaib Democrat Red X NoN
California 35 Norma J. Torres Democrat  Present
New York 7 Nydia M. Velázquez Democrat Red X NoN
California 43 Maxine Waters Democrat Red X NoN
New Jersey 12 Bonnie Watson Coleman Democrat Red X NoN
Georgia 5 Nikema Williams Democrat Red X NoN

Notes

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  1. ^ The Freedom Caucus does not publish its membership.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "Marjorie Taylor Greene Triggers Motion to Vacate Vote on Removing Speaker Mike Johnson". Forbes.
  2. ^ "Marjorie Taylor Greene's Motion to Oust Mike Johnson Goes Down in Flames". Rolling Stone. 8 May 2024.
  3. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/08/motion-to-vacate-house-speaker-marjorie-taylor-greene-mike-johnson/
  4. ^ Cochrane, Emily (January 7, 2023). "Why McCarthy's Slog to Speaker Could Mean Dysfunction Ahead in the House". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  5. ^ Elving, Ron (September 22, 2023). "House GOP rebels recall a distant era when dissidents rose up against 'Czar Cannon'". NPR. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  6. ^ Brockell, Gillian (October 3, 2023). "The last vote to remove a House speaker backfired on the GOP". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  7. ^ Davis, Susan (September 30, 2023). "How the far right could remove McCarthy and why his fate could be in Democrats' hands". NPR. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  8. ^ Multiple sources:
  9. ^ DeSilver, Drew (23 January 2023). "Freedom Caucus likely to play a bigger role in new GOP-led House. So who are they?". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  10. ^ Edmondson, Catie (October 2, 2023). "Gaetz Moves to Oust McCarthy, Threatening His Grip on the Speakership". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  11. ^ Stein, Jeff; Sotomayor, Marianna; Balingit, Moriah (2023-09-28). "Kevin McCarthy embraces stark cuts to safety net to win hard right". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  12. ^ Hulse, Carl (September 14, 2023). "McCarthy Pulls Back Pentagon Spending Bill, Inching Closer to a Shutdown". The New York Times. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  13. ^ Mychael Schnell, Aris Folley (2023-09-29). "Republican moderates stymie McCarthy on agriculture, FDA bill". The Hill. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  14. ^ Hulse, Carl (September 10, 2023). "Congress Embarks on Spending Battle as Shutdown Looms at End of September". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 25, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  15. ^ Kane, Paul; McDaniel, Justine (September 29, 2023). "McCarthy says he'd support a bill without Ukraine aid or border funds". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 30, 2023.
  16. ^ Demirjian, Karoun (October 1, 2023). "Gaetz Says He Will Move to Oust McCarthy for Working With Democrats". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  17. ^ Cook Escobar, Molly; Elliott, Kennedy; Levitt, Zach; Murphy, John-Michael; Parlapiano, Alicia; Reinhard, Scott; Shorey, Rachel; Wu, Ashley; Yourish, Yourish (October 3, 2023). "Live Vote Count: House Decides Whether to Oust McCarthy as Speaker". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  18. ^ Solender, Andrew; Brufke, Juliegrace (October 12, 2023). "Steve Scalise drops out of House speaker race". Axios. Retrieved October 12, 2023.
  19. ^ Ballard, Mark (October 13, 2023). "Congressman Mike Johnson won't run for Speaker of the House". NOLA.com. NOLA.com. Retrieved October 15, 2023.
  20. ^ French, Lauren (January 26, 2015). "9 Republicans launch House Freedom Caucus". Politico. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  21. ^ "GOP Drops Jim Jordan as the House Speaker Circus Drags On". Vanity Fair. October 20, 2023. Archived from the original on October 20, 2023. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  22. ^ Neukam, Stephen; McPhearson, Lindsey; Rojas, Warren (October 24, 2023). "Tom Emmer Flames Out Hours After Winning GOP Speaker Nomination". The Messenger. Archived from the original on October 26, 2023. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
  23. ^ Mike Hayes; Kaanita Iyer; Elise Hammond (October 25, 2023). "Rep. Mike Johnson voted new House speaker | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  24. ^ Bogage, Jacob (2023-11-16). "Senate passes bill to avert government shutdown, sending it to Biden to sign". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  25. ^ Ward, Ian (November 14, 2023). "Did Mike Johnson Just Doom Himself to the Same Fate as Kevin McCarthy?". Politico.
  26. ^ Bogage, Jacob (January 7, 2024). "Congressional leaders reach deal that would avert government shutdown". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  27. ^ "Opinion | House Republicans are right back where they started on spending". MSNBC.com. 2024-01-09. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  28. ^ Solender, Andrew and Brufke, Juliegrace (January 11, 2024). "Mike Johnson faces major test as rebels push to blow up spending deal". Axios. Retrieved March 25, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ "Speaker Johnson is defying his right wing on budget deal. But can he avoid a shutdown?". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  30. ^ Murray, Ashley (2024-03-05). "Five months late, Congress is poised to pass a huge chunk of federal spending". Maryland Matters. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  31. ^ Mike Lillis, Mychael Schnell (2024-03-05). "House conservatives fume over deal backed by Johnson". The Hill. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  32. ^ House, The White (2024-03-23). "Press Release: Bill Signed: H.R. 2882". The White House. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  33. ^ "Lifeline for foreign aid package, speaker's job up to Democrats". 16 April 2024.
  34. ^ "US Senate passes bill for aid to Israeli Occupation, Ukraine, Taiwan".
  35. ^ "Senate passes Ukraine aid, Israel funding and TikTok crackdown, sending bill to Biden's desk". NBC News. 24 April 2024.
  36. ^ "Biden signs foreign aid bill providing crucial military assistance to Ukraine". CNN. 24 April 2024.
  37. ^ Yilek, Caitlin (2023-10-05). "Republicans consider killing motion-to-vacate rule that Gaetz used to oust McCarthy - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  38. ^ Carney, Jordan (November 6, 2023). "House GOP calls for changing rules to boot a speaker — and some who ousted McCarthy may help". Politico.
  39. ^ Loh, Matthew. "Mitch McConnell says House Republicans should get rid of the motion to vacate because it 'makes the Speaker's job impossible'". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  40. ^ Yilek, Caitlin (2023-10-30). "House Republican seeks to change motion-to-vacate rule that brought down McCarthy - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  41. ^ "Cosponsors - H.Res.826 - Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to limit the privileged status of a motion causing a vacancy in the Office of Speaker to motions offered by direction of not fewer than 112 Members from the majority party or 112 Members from the minority party". Congress.gov. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  42. ^ "Speaker Johnson: 'There will probably be a change' to motion to vacate next Congress". Yahoo News. 2024-03-13. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  43. ^ Solender, Andrew (March 22, 2024). "Marjorie Taylor Greene files motion to remove Speaker Mike Johnson". Axios. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
  44. ^ Wise, Lindsay; Andrews, Natalie; Stech Ferek, Katy (March 22, 2024). "Marjorie Taylor Greene Issues 'Warning' to Speaker Mike Johnson With Motion to Vacate". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
  45. ^ Schnell, Mychael (April 16, 2024). "First Republican publicly backs Greene effort to oust Speaker Johnson". The Hill. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  46. ^ Solender, Andrew (April 19, 2024). "Third Republican joins motion to remove Mike Johnson". Axios. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  47. ^ Gorman, Riley Rogerson,Reese (2024-04-20). "Mike Johnson Came to Ukraine's Aid. Will Democrats Come to His?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2024-05-02.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  48. ^ Raju, Melanie Zanona, Annie Grayer, Manu (2024-03-31). "How Speaker Mike Johnson handles Ukraine funding issue could determine whether he gets ousted from his job | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved 2024-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  49. ^ Nast, Condé (2024-04-23). "The Motion to Vacate Mike Johnson Seems Pretty Darn Motionless". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  50. ^ Brufke, Juliegrace (May 1, 2024). "Marjorie Taylor Greene promises Mike Johnson ouster attempt next week". Axios. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
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