House Democratic leadership announced Tuesday that their conference will intervene to oppose far-right Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., if put up for a vote.

What You Need To Know

  • House Democratic leadership said they will vote to kill an effort to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., if put up for a vote

  • Democrats had previously indicated that they could come to Johnson's rescue should the Louisiana Republican put forward a long-stalled bill to provide aid to Ukraine

  • The effort, led by far-right Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, has the support of just two other Republican lawmakers; some in the House GOP appear to be lukewarm about the pospect of plunging the House into the chaos that ensued last year after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy

  • Greene filed her motion last month after Johnson put forward a bill to fund the government and avert a shutdown

“We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said in a statement. "If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”

In a press conference shortly after the release of the statement announcing the decision, Aguilar argued there was a “distinction” between voting in favor of Johnson and voting to table the motion to oust him. 

“None of the discussion that we had in caucus was about saving Mike Johnson,” Aguilar told reporters. “The underlying motion to vacate was not discussed, the motion to table was.” 

Aguilar noted that each member of the House Democratic caucus should “vote their district and their conscience.”

Democrats had previously indicated that they could come to Johnson's rescue should the Louisiana Republican put forward a long-stalled bill to provide aid to Ukraine. Given the House's passage of the bill earlier this month and signature into law by President Joe Biden after quick Senate action, their intervention appeared all but assured.

"At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction," the Democratic leaders wrote in their statement on Tuesday.

Greene filed her motion last month after Johnson put forward a bill to fund the government and avert a shutdown. In the weeks since, two other hardline Republican lawmakers -- Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar -- have joined Greene's effort, citing the agreements Johnson has negotiated on foreign aid, federal spending and government surveillance.

In a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Greene called the decision by House Democratic leadership to table the motion against Johnson an “official endorsement of his Speakership.”

“Mike Johnson is officially the Democrat Speaker of the House,” Greene wrote, going on to question whether he made a “deal” to get their support. 

The Georgia Republican went on to say Johnson should “resign” and “switch parties.” 

Republicans have largely appeared lukewarm on the prospect of plunging the chamber into the chaos that engulfed the House last year after a group of GOP lawmakers rebelled against then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy and forced his ouster over a deal he cut with Democrats and Biden to avert a shutdown. 

“She is a legislative arsonist and she is holding the gas tank and Kevin McCarthy allowed that to happen – that’s not lost on anybody,” Aguilar said on Tuesday of Greene. “What we are saying is we don’t need to be a part of that. Let’s turn the page.” 

In his quest to win the speakership in Jan. 2023, McCarthy yielded to demands of members of the party’s right flank to allow just one member to force a vote to oust the speaker.   

Greene, in her post on X on Tuesday, added she was a “big believer” in recorded votes so that Americans can see what every member of Congress decides. 

“If the Democrats want to elect him Speaker (and some Republicans want to support the Democrats’ chosen Speaker), I’ll give them the chance to do it,” Greene wrote, indicating she will not drop her bid to force a vote on ousting Johnson. 

Greene has threatened to force a vote on the matter for weeks but has yet to say when she will act. 

Johnson on Tuesday said he has not spoken to Jeffries about the prospect of saving his speakership.

"I have to do my job," Johnson told reporters at a press conference. "We have to do what we believe to be the right thing. What the country needs right now is a functioning Congress."

"I have to do what I believe is right every day and let the chips fall where they may," the Louisiana Republican said. "We shouldn’t be playing politics and engaging in the chaos that looks like palace intrigue here."