House Democratic leaders have issued a joint statement announcing they will oppose efforts to vacate Speaker of the House Mike Johnson from his seat.
The statement, penned by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark, and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar follows growing calls for Johnson to be vacated as Speaker by some House Republicans after pushing forward a series of bills on national security and foreign aid which fellow Republicans have opposed.
The House Democratic leaders issued their statement following a Democratic Caucus meeting on Tuesday morning.
"For months, House Republicans irresponsibly delayed critical security assistance to our democratic allies in Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific, while simultaneously blocking humanitarian assistance to civilians in harm's way in places like Gaza, Haiti and the Sudan," the statement reads. "Thanks to a bipartisan coalition of Democrats and Republicans, led by President Biden, we were finally able to meet the national security needs of the American people."
The minority leaders touted House Democrats for putting "people over politics" and finding "bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans" to pass legislation. "At the same time, House Democrats have aggressively pushed back against MAGA extremism," they added. "We will continue to do just that," they continued, vowing to "turn the page" on "Pro-Putin Republican obstruction." "If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed," the House Democratic leaders wrote.Loading...
The leaders then announced they planned to table Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's proposed motion to vacate.
Greene, who has led the charge for Johnson's ousting, responded to House Democratic leaders' statement later Tuesday.
"Mike Johnson is officially the Democrat Speaker of the House," Greene wrote. "What slimy back room deal did Johnson make for the Democrats’ support?"
The Georgia representative called for Johnson to resign as Speaker, switch his political affiliation to Democrat and continue his support for Democratic policies.
"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," she continued. "I’m a big believer in recorded votes because putting Congress on record allows every American to see the truth and provides transparency to our votes."
"Americans deserve to see the Uniparty on full display. I’m about to give them their coming out party!" Greene added.
The motion to vacate the office of Speaker of the House was in place from 1801 until its removal by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2018. The rule was reintroduced, per demands of House Republicans critical of former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, during January 2023's historically contested Speaker vote.
Earlier this month, Johnson commented on amending the motion to vacate to increase the threshold for vacating the seat.
"Since the beginning of the 118th Congress, the House rule allowing a Motion to Vacate from a single member has harmed this office and our House majority," Johnson wrote to X. "Recently, many members have encouraged me to endorse a new rule to raise this threshold."
"While I understand the importance of that idea, any rule change requires a majority of the full House, which we do not have. We will continue to govern under the existing rules," he declared.
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who has also indicated interest in vacating Johnson from his seat, responded to Johnson's post Tuesday afternoon.
"Rep. Jeffries and Speaker Johnson, not sure who's in charge so asking both of you: Are you still working together to eliminate the motion to vacate so you can share power forever?" Massie asked.
McCarthy is the first and only Speaker to be removed from the seat in United States history.
