House

Johnson ‘not worried’ about Greene threat to oust him as Speaker

by Nick Robertson - 01/18/24 9:43 AM ET

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Mike Rodgers (R-Ala.) — Greg Nash
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Rep. Mike Rodgers (R-Ala.) arrive to gives a statement to reporters following a meeting with Congressional leaders and President Biden at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 to discuss Ukraine funding and border security in the next supplemental bill.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) says he’s “not worried” about being ousted from his post after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) threatened him with a motion to vacate on Wednesday if he passes a budget continuing resolution amid ongoing funding negotiations.

Johnson is in the middle of difficult talks with the Senate and White House over border security and foreign aid expenditures. He struck a separate top-line spending deal to fund the government last weekend but said he will not agree to additional Ukraine aid without border security concessions.

In a CNN interview Wednesday, Johnson said he isn’t concerned with the rising conservative wing threats to remove him from the Speakership, the same fate of his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

“I have a job to do,” he said. “We all have to do our jobs. Marjorie Taylor Greene is very upset about the lack of oversight over the funding and over the lack of an articulation of a plan, as am I.”

“I’ve talked with her about it personally at great length, and she’s made her position very clear,” he continued. “We have to do our job. We have to continue to ensure that we’re covering all these bases and we’ll see how this all shakes out. I’m not worried about that. I got a job to do here. And we have to make sure we get the answers that we demanded.”

Dissenting Republicans tanked a procedural vote and held up a floor vote in protest of the top-line deal this week, with multiple members openly calling for the negotiated agreement to be thrown out.

The deal caps government spending at $1.59 trillion with around $69 billion in additional budget tweaks — largely in line with the spending caps included in the debt limit deal McCarthy struck with President Biden last year that outraged Republicans, leading to McCarthy’s ouster.

Rep Garret Graves (R-La.) denounced the dissent as “only theatrics.”

“This is the drama caucus,” he told The Hill last week. “Who’s the conservative? Nice job, guys.”

Congress is staring down Friday and Feb. 2 shutdown deadlines.