Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene made good on threats to take a motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson to the House floor Wednesday, though the move was killed within minutes.
The far-right wing lawmaker has in recent weeks said she would try to oust her party’s leader, whom she faults for working too closely with Democrats and voting to pass a $1.2 trillion spending bill to prevent a government shutdown in March.
Democrats and Republicans indicated they’d work together again to keep Johnson in his post.
That’s exactly what happened Wednesday when Green’s motion was quickly squashed by an overwhelming bipartisan vote to table her stunt. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise — a Louisianan like Johnson — led that speedy drubbing despite his own party members being caught by surprise, according to CNN.
Greene was loudly booed when she introduced her motion. Once the counting was done, 359 lawmakers backed Johnson, while only 43 sided with Greene.
Johnson became Speaker of the House in October after Republicans led a wild and chaotic initiative to boot speaker Kevin McCarthy from the lower house’s top spot. Getting no help from Democrats, the GOP put Johnson in charge following three weeks of disorder.
