US House Democrats vow not to back any move to remove the Speaker Mike Johnson if put to a vote.

Jossy Jacob | 30th April, 2024.

If a resolution to remove Republican Speaker Mike Johnson is put to a vote, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of the U.S. House Democrats would not back it, he stated in a statement on Tuesday.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Republican who is upset that Congress authorised aid to Ukraine, is threatening to move to remove Johnson from the speaker's chair. This is the same legislative manoeuvre that resulted in Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy being removed from office for the first time in American history last year.

Greene's action, nonetheless, has not garnered the same amount of support as the motion against McCarthy. In the run-up to the U.S. general election on November 5, the House Freedom Caucus, a group of far-right Republicans that spearheaded the effort to remove McCarthy, has stated that they do not believe House Republicans would benefit from such a move.

Following Tuesday morning's normal caucus meeting of House Democrats, Jeffries made a statement indicating that, in the unlikely event that a resolution to remove Johnson is ever taken to a vote, it will be shelved.

Citing the recent $95 billion international aid package passed on April 23, Jeffries remarked, "House Democrats have put people over politics and found bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans in order to deliver real results." Meanwhile, House Democrats have responded to MAGA fanaticism with great force. We'll keep doing exactly that.

Johnson responded that he had not seen Jeffries' statement during a weekly press conference, but he did point out that the last time there was a motion to vacate, the House was closed for three weeks—an event that the nation cannot afford to repeat.

"A functioning Congress is what the nation needs right now," he declared. "They require a Congress that functions effectively, collaborates with others, and doesn't impede its own capacity to address these issues.”