House Democratic leaders are vowing to shield House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., if Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., forces a vote on her motion to oust him from power.‘From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have put people over politics and found bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans in order to deliver real results. At the same time, House Democrats have aggressively pushed back against MAGA extremism. We will continue to do just that,’ House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a joint statement with House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.‘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. We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.’
Their decision was announced right at the beginning of Johnson’s weekly House GOP leadership press conference, prompting a flurry of questions from reporters.
‘I have to do my job, we have to do what we believe to be the right thing. What the country needs right now is a functioning Congress,’ Johnson said when asked his reaction. ‘We need people who are serious about the job here.’
Johnson appeared unaware of Democratic leaders’ decision beforehand and said he did not discuss a motion to vacate with Jeffries earlier this month when Democratic voters were critical to passing Johnson’s $95 billion foreign aid plan.
Greene filed a measure calling for a vote to oust Johnson, known as a motion to vacate the chair, nearly 40 days ago in protest of his handling of government funding and foreign aid.
Her resolution earned two co-sponsors in Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., after the House passed a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine earlier this month, but for the most part, it has fallen flat within the GOP.
Even Johnson’s critics in the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus have distanced themselves from the push to oust Johnson, signaling little appetite for the three weeks of chaos that followed the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., last fall.
However, with the razor-thin majority Johnson oversees, it quickly became clear that Democratic support would likely be needed to keep him in power.
That does not necessarily mean Democrats have to vote against ousting Johnson – if Greene noticed her resolution as ‘privileged,’ meaning the House would need to take it up within two days, it would first trigger a vote to table her measure, effectively killing it. Democratic leaders signaled in their Tuesday statement that they would block it in the initial vote.
Fox News Digital reached out to Greene’s office for comment.
