Speaker Mike Johnson faces threat of ouster from Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
House Speaker Mike Johnson is at risk of being ousted
WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Mike Johnson is at risk of being ousted after hard-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to vacate Friday, his leadership abruptly challenged in the middle of a House vote on a $1.2 trillion package to keep the government open.
It’s the same political dynamic that removed the last Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, just five months ago when far-right conservatives revolted over his compromise with Democrats to prevent a federal shutdown. But this one faces steeper odds, with less public GOP support, at the moment.
As the House left town for a two-week spring recess, with no imminent vote scheduled on removing the speaker, the punishing threat hangs over Johnson, of Louisiana, as the far-right flank once again seizes on the tactic, a disruptive tool used to make demands and leverage their own priorities.
“We’ve started the clock to start the process to elect a new speaker,” the Georgia congresswoman said on the Capitol steps.
