Senate conservatives are encouraging Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to abandon her bid to depose Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), claiming it is a waste of time and that Congress has more pressing concerns ahead of the November election.
Greene submitted her move to vacate a month ago to criticize the Speaker’s handling of Ukraine aid, federal spending, and the extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and Republicans have been bracing for a vote on the resolution. The Georgia Republican stated on Wednesday that she would bring it to the floor next week.
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Only two House Republicans have publicly supported her efforts, and she is losing support among Senate conservatives, many of whom believe Johnson is the best person to head the conference and that changing leadership now would be political malpractice.
“It’s a horrible idea,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) told The Hill. “Moses could not do a better job than what Mike Johnson is doing right now.”
“I think he’s doing the very best possible job in a situation with a slim majority where the Democrats control the Senate and the White House,” he said. Mike Johnson is the most conservative candidate for Speaker.
Johnson has generally dismissed Greene’s attempt to remove him from the Speakership by the same means that a different group of conservatives attempted to depose former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in October.
He recently stated in an interview that he does not regard Greene as a serious politician.
“We do the right thing and let the chips fall where they may,” Johnson told NewsNation, which shares a parent company with The Hill.
Greene’s efforts are widely anticipated to fail. Johnson’s conservative House critics have previously stated that they are not interested in repeating the three weeks of upheaval that followed McCarthy’s removal.
And after Johnson brought Ukraine aid to the floor for easy passage, Democratic leadership and rank-and-file party members pledged to support him.
Nonetheless, leading Senate conservatives hope the initiative fails.
“I think it is utterly ridiculous and counterproductive,” Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) declared.
Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who is running for Indiana governor this year, said the initiative might undermine the Republican agenda for the rest of the year, and that conservatives oppose it since there is no true fallback alternative.
It took three weeks and several failed candidacies for the House Republican Conference to elect Johnson.
“Who’s raised their hand and wants to be [the speaker]?” Braun asked.
Former President Trump’s support for Johnson in recent weeks has also hindered Greene’s efforts.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) placed his complete support behind the struggling Speaker earlier this week.
“I’m relieved, as is the rest of America, that the chaos in the House will end,” McConnell told reporters Wednesday. “I think it’s a benefit to our country, to the House, and to Congress’s reputation.”
While Johnson’s recent string of bipartisan deals to keep the government open and move money for Ukraine have enraged some conservatives, many of them are hoping to avoid a motion to vacate vote on the floor, despite Greene’s insistence on putting members on record.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a senior member of the House Freedom Caucus, recently stated that the authority to remove a Speaker “exists for reasons, but they should be deployed sparingly”—a p position mirrored by several of his Senate colleagues on the right ahead of the November elections.
Most members would rather focus on getting Trump back in the White House and regaining control of Congress than on what they regard as a one-sided, petty fight.
“I think we’ll be in a better position going into the fall if we stick together as Republicans,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a former member of the House Freedom Caucus.
“Don’t do it.” That would be my suggestion,” she said.
Even those who are most dissatisfied with Johnson in the Senate GOP will not support Greene this time around. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) repeatedly stated in a brief interview that Johnson has “done a terrible job” since taking over the gavel, but declined to clarify whether he supports the Georgia Republican’s actions.
“They must decide that,” Paul replied. “That is not for me to say.”
