Opinion: Could Johnson's days still be numbered?
Is the fight for the Speakership just beginning?
The U.S. House on Wednesday dismissed a motion from Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to try and oust Speaker Mike Johnson.
Greene’s motion, which she had been threatening to file for weeks, caught even some of her Republican colleagues off guard. Her speech on the House floor was met with boos from other lawmakers.
Other Republicans railed against the far-right congresswoman on the steps of the capitol while she was giving her speech. One called it a “congressional version of a temper tantrum.”
But with last fall’s speaker drama still fresh on members’ minds, it only took one hour for the House to ‘table’ Greene’s motion. Just 10 of her Republican colleagues voted against the motion to table.
"Hopefully, this is the end of the personality politics and the frivolous character assassination that has defined the 118th Congress,” Speaker Johnson said after the vote. “It's regrettable. It's not who we are as Americans and we're better than this. We need to get beyond it.”
While it is an undeniable win for the Speaker, there is still no guarantee that he will be the one hoisting the gavel when the 119th Congress opens next January.
Greene has grown frustrated with the Speaker for relying on Democratic votes to pass key government funding bills. Indeed, most Democrats did vote to table Greene’s motion to oust Johnson.
While it is clear that Democrats aren’t currently willing to let Rep. Greene throw Congress into chaos, some have said that there is no guarantee that they will bail Johnson out if this happens again.
Ultimately, it might be the November election that decides Johnson’s fate. He has been positioning himself as a reliable ally of Donald Trump, having made several trips to the former President’s Florida estate.
That could be an early attempt by the Speaker to scare off any potential challengers from more conservative members, especially if Trump wins in November. Though the two leaders have a great relationship now, the former President has pledged to surround himself with loyalists if he’s elected. And we have seen how unafraid he is to turn his back on a loyal ally if he no longer finds them useful.
There’s also the possibility that the next Speaker might not be a Republican at all. If they fail to hold onto their narrow majority, a hypothetical Democratic-led House will likely see Hakeem Jeffries promoted to the top job.
The minority leader told reporters Wednesday that Washington needs “more common sense and less chaos” as election season kicks into high gear and that his caucus wants to continue doing the business of the American people. “Marjorie Taylor Greene and extreme MAGA Republicans are chaos agents,” he said.
Speaker Johnson can breathe a sigh of relief for now. It appears that he will hang onto his job — at least through the election. But the uncertainty of this campaign season could result in another shift in power on Capitol Hill next year.
Johnson’s days as Speaker could still be numbered.