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House Democrats said they would scuttle a right-wing attempt to oust Republican Mike Johnson as speaker of the chamber. This is a show of bipartisanship after he defied members of his own party to allow a vote on Ukraine funding.
In a joint statement Tuesday, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Majority Leader Katherine Clark and House Majority Leader Pete Aguilar said they would vote to shelve any move by Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to force Johnson from office.
The Democrats’ move sparked backlash from Greene, who on
Greene, an isolationist Republican and supporter of Donald Trump, has been threatening for more than a month to file a “resignation motion” that would trigger a vote of no confidence in the speaker. It’s the same legislative maneuver that Matt Gaetz, another right-wing member, used last year to oust fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy.
But McCarthy has never had the support of House Democrats, and President Joe Biden’s party’s statement of support on Tuesday all but ensures that Johnson will keep his job.
It’s a surprising turn for Johnson, a soft-spoken congressman from Louisiana and staunch Trump ally who succeeded McCarthy last year.
Earlier this month, Johnson sparked widespread excitement in Washington and around the world when he agreed to vote on a $95 billion foreign aid package that included more than $60 billion in new U.S. aid to Ukraine .
Johnson had previously voted against sending more money to Kiev, but went ahead with the aid vote after Iran’s airstrike on Israel and a sustained pressure campaign from the White House, intelligence chiefs, foreign diplomats and Ukrainian activists, including evangelical Christians.
The Democratic House leaders said their party has “put people over politics and found bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans to achieve real results.” They added that it was “time. . . to reverse this chapter of pro-Putin Republican blockade.”
Greene used a post on
“If the Democrats want to elect him speaker (and some Republicans want to support the Democrat-elect speaker), I will give them the chance,” she said.