The long-simmering feud between Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is set to boil over this week when the Georgia Republican moves to force a vote on the GOP leader’s ouster — which is all but certain to fail.
Greene — who filed a motion to vacate against Johnson in March — is vowing to force a vote on her removal resolution this week, a long-time-coming for the GOP rabble rouser who has dangled the ouster mechanism over the Speaker’s head while sharply criticizing his legislative decisions at every turn.
Her gambit, however, is poised to fall flat: A large number of conservative Republicans have said they plan to oppose her effort — only two are supporting it — and the top three House Democrats said they will vote to table Greene’s ouster effort. The Georgia Republican, nonetheless, is vowing to plow ahead.
“Mike Johnson must resign or be removed,” she wrote on X on Friday.
Also this week, the Senate is poised to continue consideration of a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration. A short-term extension, however, may be necessary as lawmakers race the clock to meet Friday’s deadline.
President Biden is scheduled to appear alongside Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) at the Capitol for an event honoring individuals killed in the Holocaust. And the House is set to consider a bill that would add a citizenship question to the bicentennial census.
Greene vows movement on Johnson ouster gambit
Greene is vowing to plow ahead with her crusade to oust Johnson this week, an effort that has failed to gain traction in the GOP ranks and among former President Trump, and one that has faced opposition among Democrats — dynamics that are all but ensuring the push will fail in an embarrassing fashion on the House floor.
Those facts have been apparent for days — conservatives have been voicing skepticism of Greene’s gambit for weeks, and Democratic leadership last week said it would vote to table the Georgia Republican’s ouster measure if it hit the floor for a vote.
But Greene and her two co-sponsors — Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) — are, nonetheless, moving forward with the effort, seeking to put Republicans on the record about whether or not they support Johnson.
“This week we vote on whether Mike Johnson should remain as Speaker,” Massie wrote on X Sunday. “If you’re happy with what he’s done this year and if you’re looking forward to what he will do the remainder of the year, you should join the Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries in supporting Mike Johnson. #uniparty.”
Greene and Massie announced last week that they would move to force a vote on their resolution this week, though it remains unclear which day they will pull the trigger. The House returns to session on Monday.
Once the Republicans move to force a vote on their resolution, House GOP leadership has two legislative days to move on the legislation. Leadership is expected to stage a vote on a motion to table the measure, which will be successful with support from both Democrats and Republicans.
Johnson, meanwhile, has brushed off the looming threat to his gavel, characterizing it as an ill-advised move for the GOP — and entire country.
“I don’t think too much about the motion to vacate,” he said on SiriusXM’s “The Laura Coates Show” Friday. “I think it’s wrong for the Republican Party; I think it’s wrong for the institution; I think it’s wrong for the country. These are very serious times that we’re living in, and the American people need and deserve a functioning Congress and I think that is the prevailing factor here.”
In the lead up to Greene’s imminent move, conservatives have amped up their criticism of Greene.
“She’s pretty much operating on her own, with one or two others who have expressed support for what she’s doing,” Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus who voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in October, said on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” in an interview. “She doesn’t lead anyone.”
The ouster threat comes against the backdrop of November’s elections, which are less than six months away. Republicans of all stripes have urged GOP lawmakers to remain united in the lead-up to those contests, a message that the head of the Republican National Committee (RNC) re-upped as Greene promises to pursue her ouster effort.
“We need to flip the Senate, and we need to expand our majority in the House. We’re not going to do that if we’re not unified,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley told NBC News in an interview. “We need to make sure that all of the Republicans understand the gravity of this election cycle, and they do, and we need to make sure that we are on the same page as we’re moving forward.”
Senate stares down FAA reauthorization deadline
The Senate is continuing consideration of a bill to reauthorize the FAA for five years this week, though a short-term extension may be needed as Congress stares down a Friday deadline.
Senate GOP Whip John Thune (S.D.) told reporters last week that a short-term extension may be necessary to avoid a lapse in the authority and wrap up the process for the full reauthorization bill, citing the large number of amendments senators have requested votes on and the short window for votes. The Senate is scheduled to reconvene on Tuesday, leaving just four days until Friday’s deadline.
“We’ll see,” Thune said when asked about the prospect of a short-term extension. “May 10 is just around the corner… my assumption is that if we’re gonna not have a lapse in the authority, they’ll probably need to be a short-term extension.”
He did not say how long that extension would last.
Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) — the top Republican on the Commerce Committee — however, said last week that he thinks the upper chamber can get the bill over the finish line with enough time to spare.
“I don’t think that will prove necessary,” he said of a short-term extension. “I think we’ll get it done next week.”
The FAA bill cleared its first procedural hurdle in the Senate last week in an 89-10 vote. Senators, however, are trying to add some unrelated priorities into the legislation since it is the final must-pass measure Congress has to consider before the fall, a reality that is slowing down the consideration process.
One related priority that is likely to get a vote is an amendment that would nix language in the legislation adding five slots, or 10 flights, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).
Senators who represent Virginia and Maryland have pushed for the amendment, arguing that DCA already sees plenty of traffic, while lawmakers from states further from Washington, D.C., have advocated for the additional flights, claiming that it would increase convenience for travelers.
Biden, House leaders to appear for Holocaust remembrance event
President Biden is scheduled to visit Capitol Hill this week for a Holocaust remembrance event, appearing alongside Holocaust survivors, Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
The event — formally called the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Days of Remembrance ceremony — is scheduled for Tuesday at 11 am. Biden and Johnson are both scheduled to deliver remarks.
Days of Remembrance is the U.S.’s annual commemoration to honor the six million Jewish men, women and children who were killed in the Holocaust. The event in the Capitol “honors the American troops who fought to defeat Nazism and recognizes the U.S. Army divisions that liberated concentration camps,” according to an advisory from Johnson’s office.
The gathering comes amid a wave of pro-Palestinian protests taking place on college campuses across the country, which have cropped up as the Israel-Hamas war continues in the Middle East. Some lawmakers have accused the demonstrations of taking an antisemitic turn.
In December, Anti-Defamation League said that more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents had been reported in the U.S. since Oct. 7 — the day Hamas launched its attack on Israel — which marked a 337 percent increase year-over-year.
Last week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will “discuss our moral duty to combat the rising scourge of antisemitism and the Biden-Harris administration’s work to implementing the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism to make real the promise of never, never again.”
House to consider bill on census citizenship question
The House this week is slated to vote on a bill that calls for adding a citizenship question to the decennial census.
The legislation — titled the Equal Representation Act — would direct the Census Bureau to add a question to the 10-year survey that asks for the respondent’s citizenship status, and require that the U.S. only consider citizens when determining the number of congressional seats each state receives.
The push comes after the citizenship question did not appear on the 2020 census. The Trump administration had pushed for the question to be added to the decennial survey before dropping the effort in July 2019 after the Supreme Court blocked the idea.
The House Oversight Committee advanced the legislation in a party-line 22-20 vote in April.
“The Equal Representation Act will make sure that American citizens – and American citizens only – are given fair and equal representation in their federal government,” Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.), the sponsor of the bill, said in a statement in January, when he announced the introduction of the bill.
Al Weaver contributed.
