Democrats prepare to ride to Johnson's rescue, gingerly

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., also backs the motion, meaning Johnson may again have to turn to Democrats, this time to save his job.

Democrats on Thursday said the motion to vacate didn’t come up at their morning caucus meeting, but some hinted their party could help Johnson stay in his position.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., said Johnson had earned a lot of goodwill among Democrats by bringing up the Ukraine aid, in defiance of members of the speaker’s own party who wanted to see border security attached to any supplemental package.

“If he brings up the Ukraine funding bill in good faith and without poison pills and does the right thing, there’ll be a lot of sentiment in the Democratic caucus, not to want to see him punished for doing the right thing,” said Schiff, the favorite to win his state’s open Senate seat in November. “But we’ll make that decision collectively, consulting with our leadership. But Democrats want this place to be governed and governable.”

Quigley said Democrats could skip a vote on the motion to vacate, lowering the threshold Johnson would need to win the support of the majority of voting members.

“I think there are ways Democrats could help,” Quigley said of Johnson. “Who knows, maybe they’ll have an attendance problem.”

Johnson’s backers could offer a motion to table any Greene resolution, which could dispense with the matter quickly if enough Democrats join with Republicans, or simply skip the vote and bring down the majority threshold.

For her part, Greene wasn’t commenting on her plans or potential timing as she watched what played out in the Rules Committee on Thursday. She was responding to reports that GOP leaders may sneak a House rule change into the rule for floor debate on the supplemental, which would raise the threshold for triggering a motion to vacate from one to multiple members.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said Thursday he was pushing for the rule change.

“I’m working with a group of members to change the rule so that they can’t get that done, so that one knucklehead can’t put the whole House into disarray by forcing another speaker vote,” Johnson said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter.

...continued

swipe to next page