March 22 (UPI) — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., filed a motion Friday to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson after his successful bipartisan efforts to advance the current budget plan now being considered in the Senate to avert a government shutdown.
Her motion, similar to the one that led to the ouster of former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., also led to the House being paralyzed for weeks as it struggled to pick the next speaker before settling on Johnson.
The most conservative members of the House have complained about Johnson leaning on Democrats to get funding legislation passed, including Friday. The majority of House Republicans, 134, voted against the $1.2 trillion one-year spending package while 101 voted for it.
That left 184 Democrats voting for the package to get it over the finish line and over to the Senate.
“I respect our conference, I paid all my dues to my conference, I’m a member in good standing and I do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and to throw the House into chaos,” Greene told reporters, according to The Hill.
“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 in our Republican majority instead of standing with the Democrats.”
Johnson had claimed several victories for Republicans in the $1.2 trillion spending package for the first of the year, including more money for border issues, a key GOP talking point. But conservatives howled at the overall price tag and some rejected working with Democrats at all.
