Greene leaves Johnson meeting with no deal to avert ouster threat

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) failed to come to an agreement Wednesday about a series of policy issues at the center of her threat to oust him from the Speakership.

The Wednesday meeting marked the first time the two Republicans have spoken since Greene filed a motion to vacate the Speakership last month, after Johnson helped pass a spending package to avert a partial government shutdown.

“We didn’t walk out with a deal. I explained to him that, and he acknowledged, that as a Republican member of the House, I pretty much have the best view of how the base feels and what Republican voters want,” Greene told reporters outside of Johnson’s office.

Greene has recently ramped up pressure against Johnson over his handling of government funding, his pledge to bring Ukraine aid to the floor and the reauthorization of the U.S.’s warrantless surveillance powers, as contained in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Shortly after the meeting, a rule for legislation to renew Section 702 failed after 19 Republicans joined Democrats in voting against it. The chamber is now left without a clear path to address the spy tool before its expiration next week.

Greene in the meeting reiterated her call to Johnson to halt U.S. funding for Ukraine, she said Wednesday.

“We are not responsible for a war in Ukraine. We’re responsible for the war on the United States border. The United States border is the only border that matters,” she said. “And that if he moves forward in funding Ukraine that he’s going to be personally responsible for funding the continued murder of people in a foreign country that is not a NATO allies of ours.”

She said Johnson did not provide an answer on how he plans to move forward with Ukraine.

He indicated last week he would bring aid to the floor after the House returned from its latest recess, though he didn’t say what form the bill would take.

The Georgia lawmaker said the two also discussed last month’s spending package.

“He funded the Biden administration, he funded their open border policies,” she said. “This is not going to be tolerated by Republicans, and it’s not the way to win elections. Our Republican voters do not want to vote for a Democrat agenda.”

She told reporters Johnson gave her a “lot of excuses,” and he claimed there is a plan with newly elected spending chief Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) to pass the 12 separate appropriations bills before a government shutdown deadline to avoid large spending packages in the future.

The Hill reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.

Greene said she will not give Johnson a red line or ultimatum about what would motivate her to force a vote on her motion to vacate, noting she wants to be “considerate” of her conference. She said the meeting did not clarify her timing on when she plans to move forward.

“He discussed having a kitchen and kitchen cabinet group that would be a group of advisers for him; [he] asked me if I was interested, and I said I will wait and see what his proposal is on that right now,” she said. “He does not have my support, and I’m watching what happens with FISA and Ukraine.”

Following the failed rule vote Wednesday, Johnson told The Hill the House will “regroup and reformulate another plan.” The tanked procedural vote also inhibits a plan from House leadership to take up an amendment that would add a warrant requirement to the bill, a priority for some GOP lawmakers.

“We cannot allow Section 702 of FISA to expire. It’s too important to national security. I think most of the members understand that,” he said.

Greene said she is calling on Johnson to allow for open rules and allow votes on all amendments for FISA, writing on the social platform X, “That’s a rule that he could actually get passed.”