WASHINGTON — Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., voted in favor of tabling a motion by hardline Republicans seeking to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson from office.
The motion to oust Johnson, filed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., one of former President Donald Trump’s biggest supporters in Congress, was the second time in a matter of months that Republicans have worked to remove their own speaker, an unheard of level of party turmoil with a move rarely seen in U.S. history, The Associated Press reported.
Greene criticized Johnson’s leadership as “pathetic, weak and unacceptable” and read a long list of “transgressions” on the House floor Wednesday that she said Johnson had committed as speaker, according to wire reports. Colleagues booed in protest.
After Greene triggered the vote on her motion to vacate the speaker from his office, Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise quickly countered by calling first for a vote to table it.
The House, including Pence, voted 359-43 to table Greene’s motion to vacate, keeping Johnson in his job, for now.
The tally shows the strengths but also the stark limits of Johnson’s hold on the gavel, and the risks ahead for any Republican trying to lead the GOP in the Trump era, according to wire reports. Without Democratic help, Johnson would have certainly faced a more dismal outcome.
All told, 11 Republicans voted to proceed with Greene’s effort, including Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., more than it took to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy last fall, a first in U.S. history. And the threat still lingers — any single lawmaker can call up the motion to vacate the speaker.
Johnson said he hoped it “is the end of the personality politics.”
As Greene pressed ahead with the snap vote despite pushback from Republicans at the highest levels, including Trump, GOP lawmakers filtered towards Johnson, giving him pats on the back and grasping his shoulder to assure him of their support, according to the AP.
The Georgia Republican had vowed weeks ago she would force a vote on the motion to vacate the Republican speaker if he dared to advance a foreign aid package for Ukraine, which was overwhelmingly approved late last month and signed into law.
Johnson of Louisiana marched on, saying he had been willing to take the risk to approve the foreign aid, believing it was important for the U.S. to back Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and explaining he wanted to be on the “right side of history.”
In a highly unusual move, the speaker received a boost from Democrats led by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, whose leadership team had said it was time to “turn the page” on the GOP turmoil and vote to table Greene’s resolution — almost ensuring Johnson’s job is saved, for now.
Had Democrats not taken the unusual move to help, the vote would most likely have ended differently for Johnson who holds one of the slimmest majorities in the House in modern times, with no votes to spare, according to wire reports.
Last year, the House chamber was hurled into chaos when eight Republicans voted to remove McCarthy from the speaker’s office and Democrats declined to help save him.
Ousting McCarthy resulted in a nearly monthlong search for a new GOP leader, bringing the chamber to a standstill with an episode Republicans wanted to avoid ahead of the November election.
Pence, for his part, voted against ousting McCarthy and criticized the far-right effort last year to remove him as Speaker of the House, characterizing the move as “a waste of time” that “disrupts our ability to govern.”
