Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led the effort to remove former Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker, said he does n’t want to see House Speaker Mike Johnson go.
Despite his differences with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La ). There appears to be much hunger from Republicans to take the hand from him, who has held the title of second-in-line to the president for just five weeks.
This comes as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene ( R- Ga. ) has filed a motion to remove Mr. Johnson from the author’s chair—also known as a movement to depart.
” This is a deception of the American people. Following the March 22 voting on a deal to finance the majority of the federal government, the lawmaker told investigators outside the Capitol.” This is a deception of the Democratic voters.
Ms. Greene remarked that while she does not want to” put the House into chaos”, the action is a reminder to Mr. Johnson.
” Boards will continue doing their job, studies will remain. I support Republicans holding the majority in the upcoming meeting, but we need a speaker of the House who is knowledgeable about negotiation, how to move in the room, how to hold the line, and how to stand up for what we have in the interests of America first, as well as the principles and laws that President Trump did bring, she said.
Appearing on Fox News on March 31, Mr. Johnson called Ms. Greene’s action” a distraction from our vision” and said the House GOP does no “need any disagreement right today”. He claimed to have spoken with Ms. Greene about the situation.
Gaetz Defends Johnson
Rep. Matt Gaetz ( R- Fla. ), the lawmaker who led the effort to remove former Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the speakership, said in late March that he does n’t want to see Mr. Johnson go.
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” If we vacate this speech, we’ll end up with a Democrat loudspeaker”, he explained, saying he believes there are Republicans who would vote to create House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries ( D- N. Y. ) speech if Mr. Johnson were ousted.
Mr. Gaetz compared spending patterns between Mr. Johnson and Mr. McCarthy, noting that they shared some differences in other areas, such as passing impeachments against Alejandro Mayorkas and the House’s lawsuit of second son Hunter Biden.
He suggested that many of Mr. Johnson’s shortcomings are driven by average Republicans willing to join Democrats on saving troubles, and said the solution, rather than giving Mr. Johnson the heel, is to “elect a better sample of Republicans”.
The$ 1.2 trillion bill that Congress passed in late March was opposed by the majority of Republicans in the late March vote.
The cash package, which includes six budget bills and is known as a “minibus,” was introduced just one day before the deadline to prevent a limited government shutdown. The majority of the GOP conference’s members were fiercely opposed to the estimate, but it was approved with the rules suspended in a 286–134 vote.
The act covered , 70 percent of the federal government. This includes the Defense, Treasury, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services ( HHS), Education, and State departments.
Johnson Better Than Jeffries, Some State
Rep. Tim Burchett ( R- Tenn. ), another lawmaker who voted to oust Mr. McCarthy, condemned the minibus as” a pile of garbage” and said that Mr. Johnson “is responsible for this item, ultimately”.
However, he refrained from suggesting that the House GOP might have a new energy challenge.
Asked by a reporter whether there would be” consequences” for Mr. Johnson’s deal with the Democrats, Mr. Burchett said,” There’s always gonna be consequences”.
But, he said,” If we were to kick him out, you might as well just give the gavel to Hakeem”.
He mentioned that there is a “booting” of Mr. Johnson in the background, but Mr. Burchett refuted this.
” They’re constantly talking about it but they’re not stepping up to do it”, he said.
Several of the people talking difficult, he said, were simply doing so because of opposition from their components for not joining in on Mr. McCarthy’s resignation.
Rep. Eli Crane ( R- Ariz. ), who also voted to remove Mr. McCarthy, echoed Mr. Burchett, striking a conciliatory and understanding tone toward the embattled speaker.
While acknowledging that the buck stops with Mr. Johnson, Mr. Crane said the GOP has “be believable and look at the situation”.
He emphasized that at this time, he did not back a motion to depart against Mr. Johnson.
” I’m glad that we did what we did”, Mr. Crane said, referring to Mr. McCarthy’s treatment. ” At the very least… Speaker Johnson is transparent and, you know, does n’t make promises and then not deliver on those promises”.
Mr. Crane cited the receding Republican majority in the House as evidence of his little more mature understanding of Mr. Johnson’s candidacy.
Still, Mr. Crane said he would n’t have faith in Mr. Johnson “until I see him start playing to win”.
Various Republicans Will Stay Speaker
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N. C. ), who voted to keep Mr. McCarthy in the speakership but leans to the party’s right, also said he does n’t want Mr. Johnson to be ousted, and that there is n’t much discussion about the move within the party.
Asked whether Mr. Johnson is at risk, Mr. Bishop replied,” I mean, not for me, and I do n’t hear talk about that. I do n’t think that sentiment exists at this point”.
He did point out that Mr. Johnson may not be able to eke out a majority in the upcoming Republican majority House.
According to Mr. Bishop,” I think he needs something extraordinary that shows that he’s capable of putting his senate on the line for modify that Americans want and need.”
Rep. Chip Roy ( R- Texas ), who has blasted Mr. Johnson for the minibus, also says he is n’t thinking about a motion to vacate for the time being.
” I’m not going to go down that path right now”, he said during a March 21 interview for” Your World” on Fox News.
This month, Mr. Johnson has come under fire for introducing the two-pronged state cash payments.
A$ 95 billion package that includes aid to Israel and Ukraine has not yet been approved by Mr. Johnson for a vote in the House. In response to the most recent conflict between Israel and Hamas and the Ukraine-Russian War, he and many other Democrats have demanded stringent borders protection measures in exchange for providing foreign aid.
A nonpartisan$ 118 billion package, which included financing for both Jerusalem and Kyiv, and border measures that some GOP lawmakers felt were insufficient due to the southern border crisis, was blocked by Republicans in the Senate.
Also, Mr. Johnson has put forward expenses that would offer assistance to Israel. One was a$ 14 billion bill, which was matched by the same amount of IRS funding as the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N. ), who voted against it, passed it in the House. Y. ) claimed that the act was useless when it arrived in the upper chamber of Congress.
A separate bill to provide$ 14 billion in aid to Israel was passed by the House after Mr. Johnson had it voted on in a hurry. Even though the measure did not include any balances, the majority of Democrats cast ballots in opposition.
Rep. Thomas Massie ( R- Ky. ) challenged Mr. Johnson in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
