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Post by Newsman on Mar 22, 2024 14:20:35 GMT -5
For the second time this Congress, a motion to vacate the Speaker's Chair has been filed...(The Guardian) Rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene moves to oust Mike Johnson as House speaker - reportRightwing Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has filed a motion to remove Mike Johnson as speaker of the House, Punchbowl News reports:
Here is Marjorie Taylor Greene’s floor speech from earlier today assailing the government funding bill currently under consideration by the House: Voting is nearly done on the measure, which requires a two-thirds majority to pass. It currently has received 285 votes in favor and 132 opposed. Fifteen lawmakers have yet to weigh in.
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Post by Webster on Mar 22, 2024 14:25:26 GMT -5
(The Guardian We have yet to hear rightwing Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene explain why she wants to remove Mike Johnson as speaker of the House. But it may have something to do with his cooperation with Democrats to prevent a partial government shutdown. More Democrats than Republicans supported the just-passed $1.2tn funding measure that authorizes spending in federal departments where it has not already been approved: Rightwing lawmakers have made clear that Republican leadership should not work with Democrats. In fact, it was a similar scenario that led to Kevin McCarthy’s removal as House speaker in October. He struck a deal with the Democratic minority to prevent a shutdown, and days later was out of the job;
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Post by Webster on Mar 22, 2024 14:26:37 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene confirms effort to remove Mike Johnson over government fundingSpeaking to reporters outside the Capitol, rightwing Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene confirmed she has filed a motion to remove Mike Johnson as House speaker, but described it as “a warning” rather than an attempt to boot him. The Georgia lawmaker cited Johnson’s approach to funding the government, and criticized him for working with Democrats. “I filed a motion to vacate today, but it’s more of a warning and a pink slip,” she said. “I do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and to throw the House in chaos, but this is basically a warning and it’s time for us to go through the process, take our time and find a new speaker of the house that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority instead of standing with the Democrats.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene listed a ream of grievances against Mike Johnson, much of which centered on his approach to funding the government. She noted that, since become speaker in late October, he allowed votes on short-term measures to keep the government open, and gave lawmakers less than 72 hours to consider the just-passed legislation to prevent a partial shutdown that would have begun at midnight. Greene did not like any of that: This is a betrayal of the American people. This is a betrayal of Republican voters. And the bill that we were forced to vote on forced Republicans to choose between funding to pay our soldiers and, in doing so, funding late-term abortion. This bill was basically a dream and a wish list for Democrats and for the White House. It was completely led by Chuck Schumer, not our Republican speaker of the House, not our conference, and we weren’t even allowed to put amendments to the floor to have a chance to make changes to the bill.
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Post by Webster on Mar 22, 2024 14:30:22 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Marjorie Taylor Greene has tweeted an image of her resolution to remove fellow Republican Mike Johnson as speaker: It does not appear to be privileged, meaning it does not have to be voted on before lawmakers depart for their two-week recess, which they are scheduled to do later today. Asked earlier about her timeline for the removal push, Greene said the motion is “filed but it’s not voted on. It only gets voted on until I call it to the floor for a vote.” She did not say when she will do that.
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Post by Webster on Apr 1, 2024 14:47:21 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Johnson calls rightwing attempt to remove him as speaker 'a distraction from our mission'Just before Congress left town last month, rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene formally proposed removing Mike Johnson as speaker over frustrations that he didn’t secure more conservative policy wins in a bill to keep the government open. It’s a sore subject for House Republicans, who last year saw Kevin McCarthy booted from the leadership post by a small groups of disaffected Republicans assisted by all Democrats. We don’t know yet if Greene’s motion has enough support to pass, but in his interview with Fox News, Johnson described it as a “distraction”: I think all of my other Republican colleagues recognize this as a distraction from our mission. Again, the mission is to save the republic. And the only way we can do that is if we grow the House majority, win the Senate and win the White House. So, we don’t need any dissension right now. Look, Marjorie Taylor Greene filed the motion. It’s not a privileged motion, so it doesn’t move automatically. It’s just hanging there. And she’s frustrated.Johnson noted that “she and I exchanged text messages”, and the pair plan to talk early next week.
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Post by Webster on Apr 9, 2024 13:37:21 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Marjorie Taylor Greene escalates pressure on Johnson in scathing memoRepublican Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene escalated her threat to oust Mike Johnson, issuing a searing indictment of the House speaker in a letter explaining her decision to file a motion to oust him. In the five-page memo sent to her Republican colleagues on Tuesday morning, Greene laid out a detailed case against the speaker, accusing Johnson of failing to deliver on promises he ran on and breaking legislative procedural rules. Johnson is “throwing our own razor-thin majority into chaos by not serving his own GOP conference that elected him”, Greene wrote. With so much at stake for our future and the future of our children, I will not tolerate this type of Republican ‘leadership’. This has been a complete and total surrender to, if not complete and total lockstep with, the Democrats’ agenda that has angered our Republican base so much and given them very little reason to vote for a Republican House majority. Greene quoted the seven “key priorities” Johnson laid out when running for the speakership in October, and said he had “not lived up to a single one of his self-imposed tenets”. Greene has not said if or when she plans to force a floor vote on Johnson’s removal, calling it a “warning” and noting it would be a “rolling issue”, but the letter marks her first direct pitch to her GOP colleagues to join her push to oust the speaker.
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Post by Webster on Apr 9, 2024 13:38:18 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Apr 9, 2024 13:38:58 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Apr 9, 2024 13:41:46 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Ken Buck was one of eight Republicans who voted to eject the previous speaker, Kevin McCarthy, last October. But Buck quit Congress in protest of his party’s domination by Trump supporters. Speaking to CNN on Monday, Buck dismissed McCarthy’s contention that Marjorie Taylor Greene is “a very serious legislator that deals with policy”, saying: So many of the statements that Marjorie has made over the years are completely irresponsible. The idea that somehow the speaker [Johnson] is corrupt because he believes that we should be supporting an ally that has been invaded by a war criminal, [Russian leader] Vladimir Putin, and the idea that somehow anybody who is in agreement with Ukraine and our Nato allies is corrupt, it’s just another distraction that she uses to take away from the core arguments that are so important.
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Post by Webster on Apr 10, 2024 18:22:07 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Mike Johnson and Marjorie Taylor Greene to meet todayThe House speaker, Mike Johnson, is expected to meet with fellow Republican Congress member Marjorie Taylor Greene today, marking the first time the two have spoken since Greene filed a motion to vacate the speakership late last month. Johnson and Greene were slated to speak last Friday, but that plan reportedly fell through. Asked about the upcoming meeting during a press conference alongside other House GOP leaders, Johnson described Greene as “a friend”, adding: Marjorie and I don’t disagree, I don’t think, on any matter of philosophy. We’re both conservatives. But we do disagree sometimes on strategy and with regard to what we put on the floor and when and those things.The meeting comes a day after Greene escalated her criticism against Johnson in a scathing memo to colleagues in which she accused him of a “complete and total surrender” to the Democrats’ agenda.
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Post by Webster on Apr 10, 2024 18:24:53 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Apr 10, 2024 18:25:39 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Apr 11, 2024 10:39:59 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump and Johnson grow closer amid frustration over 'stupid' threat to speakershipThe embattled House speaker, Mike Johnson, is dashing to Florida to meet with Donald Trump this week where the pair are expected to appear tomorrow at an event at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate for a “major announcement on election integrity”. Friday’s appearance will mark their first public event together since Johnson was elected to the speakership last fall, and comes as he and Trump have begun to develop a rapport and engaging in more frequent phone calls, Politico’s Playbook reports. It also comes at a precarious time for Johnson, who faces a threat for his ouster from one of Trump’s most loyal allies in Congress, the far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Just before the spring recess last month, Greene filed a motion to vacate, and has since warned Johnson that passing Ukraine aid would put his position in peril. Johnson warned on Wednesday that an effort to oust him would not be helpful for the Republican majority and “would be chaos in the House”, and Trump insiders reportedly agree. “100 percent distraction. Unwanted. And just stupid,” one Trump insider told Playbook. -- We’re not going to get trapped into this cycle of bullshit that comes out of members of the House.
Those around Donald Trump are growing weary of the constant motion-to-vacate threats and fearful that an election-year speakership battle could risk Republicans losing the House, Politico’s Playbook writes. “The internal fighting is not appreciated by [Trump],” one person close to the former president said, adding: It’s no way to run a party; it’s no way to run a House. You can’t work in that environment.
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Post by Webster on Apr 11, 2024 10:59:49 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Johnson and Trump to hold joint press conference on FridayThe joint appearance at Mar-a-Lago tomorrow was pitched by Mike Johnson’s office to Donald Trump’s team, but the event is being viewed as a win by both camps, according to Politico’s Playbook. -- Johnson gets to stand onstage with the King of MAGA himself right as he faces a hard-right revolt, while Trump gets the country’s highest-ranking Republican to lend credence to his voting concerns as many in the GOP beg him to move past the 2020 election.The event on Friday comes as discussions are under way about holding regular meetings between the Trump campaign and Johnson’s team, it writes.
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Post by Webster on Apr 11, 2024 11:01:04 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Allies of Mike Johnson have reached out to Donald Trump to ask him to publicly support the speaker, sources told CNN. Johnson has also been advised to keep the former president in the loop on a vote on funding for Ukraine could be imminent in the chamber, it writes. The specter of Trump has loomed large over the wrangling for a Ukraine deal; he was instrumental in Johnson’s refusal to call a House vote on a $95bn wartime funding bill that passed the Democratic-led Senate in February, which also included aid for Israel in its war in Gaza. Trump has also demanded Republicans reject any Ukraine funding measure that ties in money for US border security in order to deny Joe Biden a “win” on immigration ahead of November’s election. The friction has led to rightwingers, such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, threatening Johnson’s position.
As the House adjourned last month, Mike Johnson vowed that the chamber would soon “take the necessary steps to address the supplemental funding request”, which includes money for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The Senate passed a $95bn foreign aid package in February, but Johnson indicated that the House would consider an amended proposal when members returned to Washington this week. Even as Johnson faces a challenge from the hard-right flank of his conference including congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, other House Republicans insist the chamber must take action to assist Ukraine. They warn that further inaction, after months of ignoring the White House’s demands to approve more funding, will only embolden Russian president Vladimir Putin. “We are at a critical juncture on the ground that is beginning to be able to impact not only morale of the Ukrainians that are fighting, but also their ability to fight,” congressman Mike Turner, the Republican chair of the House intelligence committee, told CBS News last Sunday. -- Putin knows this. This is obviously an area where we cannot allow Putin to win.
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