Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) motion to vacate against House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) could see a vote as early as today, but is poised to fail.
After introducing the measure in March, Greene has held it over Johnson as a “warning” against further conduct conservatives found distasteful. Overseeing only a three-vote majority, it was far from an idle threat, as only a handful of frustrated conservatives could have ousted Johnson.
The threat became all the more serious after two Republicans—Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ky.)—announced that they would back Greene’s motion.
But yesterday, Johnson received a lifeline when House Democratic leadership announced that Democrats would save Johnson should Greene activate her motion.
“At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction,” Democratic leadership wrote in a statement released yesterday morning. “We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”
Greene immediately responded, excoriating Johnson as “the Democrat Speaker of the House.”
The Georgia Republican appeared to accept that Democrats’ support meant the end of her bid to oust Johnson, but said that she would nevertheless pursue a recorded vote on the motion.
“If the Democrats want to elect him Speaker (and some Republicans want to support the Democrats’ chosen Speaker), I’ll give them the chance to do it,” Greene wrote.
“I’m a big believer in recorded votes because putting Congress on record allows every American to see the truth and provides transparency to our votes,” she added. “Americans deserve to see the Uniparty on full display. I’m about to give them their coming out party!”
Greene will hold a press conference on her next steps moving forward this morning at 9 a.m. ET.
When she activates the motion, leadership will have to permit a vote on it within two days.
At that point, a member will bring a motion to table the measure which is all but guaranteed to succeed, averting a formal vote on the issue altogether.
Democrats’ backing of Johnson’s speakership likely means the end of motion to vacate threats against Johnson for the remainder of his speakership.
—Joseph Lord
REPUBLICANS RESPOND TO COLLEGE PROTESTS
Johnson and a series of committee chiefs from some of Congress’ most important committees vowed yesterday that they would respond to the ongoing nationwide college protests that have targeted and endangered Jewish students.
“Antisemitism is a virus. Because the administration and university presidents aren’t stepping in, we’re seeing it spread,” Johnson said. “We have to act and House Republicans will speak to this fateful moment with moral clarity.”
Protests have rocked universities across the nation, seeing thousands of students agitate in opposition to Israel’s war in Palestine. However, many of these protests have devolved into riots, with students defacing property, threatening, and, in some
“You will see Congress respond,” Johnson said. “You’re gonna see funding begin to dry up, and you’re gonna see every level of accountability we can muster.”
The speaker said that “nearly every committee” on Capitol Hill has some role in responding to these protests and “stop[ping] the madness that has ensued.”
Leaders of several congressional committees took the podium to discuss how they would respond to the ongoing violence at universities across the U.S.
Committee on Education and Workforce Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) announced she would compel the testimony before her committee of leaders from Yale, the University of Michigan, and the University of California in Los Angeles.
“No stone must go unturned while buildings are being defaced, campus greens are being captured, or graduations are being ruined,” Foxx said.
“Everyone affiliated with these universities will receive a healthy dose of reality. Actions have consequences.”
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) noted that her panel “doles out massive amounts of taxpayer-funded research grants” to many of the universities currently rocked by the protests.
Unless universities respond substantially to the protests, McMorris Rodgers suggested, that funding could be in trouble.
“We will be increasing our oversight of institutions that have received public funding and cracking down on those who are in violation of the Civil Rights Act,” she said.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said that his panel would be probing the State Department on how many of those engaging in the protests are here on a student visa, and pushing the department to consider revoking those visas for those engaging in violent conduct.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.), meanwhile, cited the “generous, generous tax benefits” that these universities enjoy from the government.
“They have a responsibility to the American taxpayer to ensure that they are fulfilling their educational requirements as tax exempt organizations, as well as protecting students from intimidation, harassment, and violence,” Mr. Smith said.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), meanwhile, suggested that these protests “appear” to be funded by “global elites”—and vowed that his panel would investigate.
“The House Oversight Committee will follow the money trail, expose it to the American people, and seek to hold bad actors funding hate accountable,” Mr. Comer said.
The press conference comes as the House is also poised to consider Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-N.Y.) Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which would extend the protections of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to Jewish students.
The legislation is likely to pass by an overwhelming bipartisan vote.
—Joseph Lord
BOOKMARKS
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik yesterday filed an ethics complaint against Special Counsel Jack Smith, The Epoch Times’ Savannah Hulsey Pointer reported. She alleged that, in his prosecutorial campaign against President Donald Trump, he is attempting to “unlawfully interfere with the 2024 presidential election.”
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has clinched a spot on the ballot in California, The Epoch Times’ Aldgra Fredly reported. Kennedy will appear on the ballot in the state as the nominee of the American Independent Party.
The Biden administration’s 2025 budget request for the EPA requests over 2,000 new personnel for the agency, The Epoch Times’ John Haughey reported. In spite of this massive personnel increase, the request does comply with the spending caps laid out in the 2023 Financial Responsibility Act.
Republican states have enacted nearly three times as many bills related to elections and election integrity as Democrat states this year, The Epoch Times’ Naveen Athrappully reported. So far this year, Republicans have sponsored 87 and Democrats 30.
As protests continue to become riotous at Columbia University, Trump says he sees parallels between student rioters and Jan. 6 protestors, The Epoch Times’ Jacob Burg reported. The former president wondered whether these students would face penalties as harsh as those faced by Jan. 6 defendants.