Marjorie Taylor Greene Files 'Warning' Resolution Against Speaker Mike Johnson

WASHINGTON ― Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) filed a resolution calling for the ouster of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Friday, but Greene stopped short of forcing a vote.

“It’s more of a warning than a pink slip,” Greene told reporters.

Greene and other far-right Republicans said they were furious with Johnson for avoiding a government shutdown by moving a government funding bill Friday with Democratic votes. Greene called the legislation “an atrocious attack on the American people.”

If Greene had offered her resolution as “privileged,” the House would have been required to vote within two legislative days. Greene said she still might go there, but not yet.

“I’m not saying that it won’t happen in two weeks or it won’t happen in a month or who knows when, but I am saying the clock has started,” Greene said. “It’s time for our conference to choose a new speaker.”

The move threatens a repeat of the three-weeks of paralysis the House went through in October after eight House Republicans, with the unanimous support of Democrats, voted to oust then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Republicans spent weeks with no leader, rejecting candidate after candidate in a series of internal party votes before plucking Johnson out of obscurity because he hadn’t made any enemies.

It’s unclear how much support Greene has, though she said had backing from an unspecified number of GOP colleagues.

But at least a few House Republicans are in no mood for another speaker search.

“At the end of the day, she supported Kevin McCarthy,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) told reporters. “She knows firsthand the level of destruction that Matt Gaetz and others caused by vacating the chair, and I don’t see how she could possibly think this will benefit anyone or the American people.”

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) said that he considered Greene a friend but he was standing by his state delegation colleague in Johnson.

“I stand with Mike Johnson,” Higgins said in a video he posted on social media. “He is maybe the only guy in history that could potentially perform and help us navigate through these very dark and challenging times.”

Since winning the speaker’s gavel, Johnson has passed up several chances to shut down the government, earning ire among right-wing House Freedom Caucus members, several of whom staged a press conference Friday morning to denounce the government funding bill. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) called it “a total surrender by Republican leadership.”

If Greene were to follow through with her threat to throw out Johnson, it’s not clear whether the same dynamic would prevail as in October, when eight Republicans voted with all Democrats to oust McCarthy; it’s possible Democrats could bail Johnson out.

“It’s the responsibility of the Democrats not to partake in something that undermines our government,” Lawler said. “That’s the absurdity of all this. Kevin McCarthy was removed with the help of [House Democratic leader] Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats for keeping the government open and funded. So they should make it very clear they’re not going to participate in that right now.”

One Democrat suggested that his party could agree to help Johnson keep his job ― for a price.

“If Speaker Johnson has a plan for getting desperately needed aid to our allies, Ukraine, if he’s got a plan for getting desperately needed humanitarian assistance to people in Gaza, if he’s got a plan for a two-state solution, then we’re all ears,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).

“We’re open to whatever Speaker Johnson’s got to say about that.”

Johnson, for his part, said the government funding bill wasn’t really so bad.

“House Republicans achieved conservative policy wins, rejected extreme Democrat proposals, and imposed substantial cuts while significantly strengthening national defense,” Johnson said in a statement after the vote.