In Washington D.C. Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has filed a motion to remove Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson of Bossier Parish from his position as House Speaker. Greene is a major critic of a $1.2 trillion government funding bill approved by the U.S House. The spending bill has the support of President Biden and Democrats.
LSU Political Science Professor Robert Hogan says a vocal minority of Republicans are not happy with the compromises that were made to pass the bill.
“In some ways, this isn’t too surprising given that the same issue is what plagued the last Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy,” Hogan said.
McCarthy was removed from his post in October. It took three weeks before a divided Republican delegation settled on Johnson as the next speaker.
Republicans have a narrow majority in the House. Hogan says this requires Johnson to work with Democrats in getting legislation passed.
“You have a hardcore group of Republicans that doesn’t like compromise, they were sent to Washington D.C. to vote against bills that Democrats support,” Hogan said.
Hogan says it remains to be seen if Greene will get others on board to oust Speaker Johnson.
“The razor thing margin that Republicans hold in the House means she’s in a strategically good place to take action that would lead to his ouster,” Hogan said.
The U.S. House will be on recess the next two weeks. It remains to be seen if Greene will continue to push for a new Speaker when lawmakers return after a break for Passover and Easter.
Whether or not Greene will be able to get others on board to oust Speaker Johnson, Hogan says remains to be seen.
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