Marjorie Taylor Greene files motion to oust Mike Johnson as House passes $1.2trn spending package
Ms Greene filed a motion to vacate the speaker as the House was still voting on the spending agreement.
A two-thirds majority was reached to pass the spending package – 286 voted in favour and 134 voted against.
“This is a portrayal of Republican voters,” Ms Greene told reporters on Friday. “And the bill that we were forced to vote on forced Republicans to choose between funding to pay our soldiers and in doing so, funding late-term abortion – this bill was basically a dream and a wish list for Democrats and for the White House.”
The spending agreement will now head to the US Senate, where it is expected to easily pass with bipartisan support either before or shortly after the government shuts down at 12.01am on Saturday.
President Joe Biden has said he would sign the legislation immediately once it reaches his desk. The bill will keep the government open until the end of Fiscal Year 2024, which ends on 30 September.
Ms Greene said the process “was completely led by [Democratic Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer, not our Republican Speaker of the House, not our conference, and we weren’t even allowed to put amendments to the floor to have a chance to make changes to the bill”.
“I filed the motion to vacate today, but it’s more of a warning than a pink slip,” she added. “This is basically a warning and it’s time for us to go through the process, take our time and find a new speaker of the House that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority instead of standing with the Democrats.”
Republican Arizona Representative Juan Ciscomani told The Independent that the filing of the motion to vacate was “very unfortunate”.
He added that he “didn’t support” the motion to vacate former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last autumn. “This is a bad idea again.”
Mr Johnson argued in a statement that “House Republicans achieved conservative policy wins, rejected extreme Democrat proposals, and imposed substantial cuts while significantly strengthening national defense”.
