Dem
51
GOP
49
And then there were two. Yesterday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) announced that he agrees with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) must go. Massie is angry about the pending Ukraine funding bill, the bills that kept the federal government funded for FY 2023-24, and the bill that renewed part of FISA for 2 years.
This means that an inflection point has been reached. If all of the House Democrats, along with Greene and Massie, vote to get rid of the Speaker, that's 215 votes. As of Friday, when the resignation of Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) takes effect, 216 votes are all that will be needed to send Johnson packing. Massie implied yesterday that there are others among his Freedom Caucus colleagues ready to vote for Johnson's ouster, so maybe the Speaker is in deep trouble, despite Donald Trump's support.
That said, the Democrats' support for such a move is not a sure thing. There aren't that many weeks left before the election cycle really gears up, and they're not terribly enthusiastic about wasting 1-2 more weeks on speaker elections. Also, if the bills Johnson puts forward for funding Ukraine and Israel are acceptable, the blue team is inclined to save the Speaker's bacon as a reward.
Massie, incidentally, has his own solution to the problem of the House being speaker-less again. The Representative wants Johnson to resign, with the resignation to take effect as soon as a new speaker is chosen. This is how John Boehner ended his tenure as speaker, so that the office would not be vacant. Johnson described the suggestion as "absurd" and said he will most certainly not be resigning. So, if Greene and Massie are going to give him the boot, they're going to have to do it the hard way. (Z)