House Speaker Mike Johnson, facing mounting threats to his presidency, said Tuesday he would not resign and dismissed threats against his gavel as “ridiculous” after a second Republican congressman threatened to impeach Johnson for his position through legislation on sending foreign aid. To Ukraine and Israel.
After Representative Thomas Massie said he would sponsor efforts to remove Johnson from office and called on him to resign, the Republican representative from Louisiana described himself as a “wartime spokesman” in difficult times.
“I will not resign,” Johnson told reporters. “And I think it’s an unreasonable idea for someone to make a motion to release while we’re out here trying to do our job.”
Hard-line Republicans are increasingly angry at Johnson’s complex plan to provide billions of dollars in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
Massie told fellow Republicans behind closed doors Tuesday morning that he would support a motion to remove Johnson from office.
The comments highlight a significant escalation in the far-right threat to Johnson’s leadership that has dogged the Louisiana Republican since Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia introduced a resolution to vacate the presidency last month.
Massie was booed by fellow Republicans after making the announcement, according to one source, and Republican Rep. Trent Kelly of Mississippi then stood up and criticized Massie, saying it was “wrong” not to support the speaker.
“I asked him to resign,” Massey told CNN after the meeting. “He said he wouldn’t do it. And then I said, ‘Well, you’re the one who’s going to get us into this,’ because the motion will be called. Yes. Does anyone doubt that? The motion will be called and then he’ll lose more votes than (former House Speaker) “Kevin McCarthy, I secretly told him that weeks ago.”
Massie’s comments show how Johnson will likely have to rely on Democratic votes to pass his foreign aid package — as well as potentially save his office — as Republicans control only a razor-thin majority, and efforts to send foreign aid to Ukraine are divided. the Republican Party.
However, Johnson on Tuesday doubted that he would have to rely on Democratic support to save his office, insisting that House Republicans “will get on with it.”
The text of the plan has not been released, so House Democrats are still weighing whether to bail out Johnson — or oppose him and pressure Republicans to instead accept the $95 billion Senate package that Johnson shelved for two months. House Democrats met Tuesday morning.
The first problem for Johnson was to agree to the rule governing debate, a procedural step that allows legislation to be passed by a majority. For decades, these rules have been approved along straight party lines, but divisions in the GOP have derailed the rules seven times in this Congress and derailed its agenda.
At least one Republican — Greene — said he would vote against the rule. Several other people told CNN they were still thinking about how to vote.
In his statement Monday, the Louisiana Republican expected the House to vote Friday night on the individual bills. On Tuesday, Johnson stuck to that timeline, saying he aimed to present his plan “by the end of the week.”
In November, the House of Representatives passed a bill to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel, but Democrats objected to the fact that the bill did not include aid to Ukraine and would impose cuts in funding for the Internal Revenue Service.