Washington- House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing a new call from another Republican lawmaker to resign or face impeachment, but he said Tuesday he would not resign.
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie said Tuesday he would co-sponsor a motion to leave the speaker filed last month by GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. She laid the groundwork for a possible vote to strip Johnson of his gavel after working with Democrats to approve a government funding package and avoid a partial shutdown a few weeks ago. But Greene has not yet committed to a timetable for calling for a vote on the resolution to impeach Johnson.
Massie said he told Johnson during the closed-door Republican conference meeting Tuesday morning that he would co-sponsor the resignation motion, adding in a social media post that Johnson “should pre-announce his resignation.” so that the conference can work on the selection. his replacement. But Johnson told a news conference after the meeting that he “would not resign,” calling it an “absurd idea” for someone to bring forward a motion to leave “when we’re just here trying to do our thing.” work”.
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“It doesn’t help the cause, it doesn’t help the country. It doesn’t help the Republicans in the House of Representatives advance our agenda that is in the best interest of the American people here,” Johnson said, a Republican from Louisiana.
Massie predicted to reporters that “the motion will be called, and then he will lose more votes than Kevin McCarthy,” referring to the former president who was ousted from office in October.
This decision came after Johnson revealed a plan On Monday, he will advance four foreign aid bills. Although the Senate earlier this year passed a supplemental funding bill to provide aid to U.S. allies, which the White House urged the president to pass in the House, Johnson stressed that his plan would separately provide funding to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, while another bill would address other GOP foreign policy priorities. The move came after lawmakers expressed new urgency over approving funds for Israel following Iran’s unprecedented airstrikes over the weekend.
Johnson said Tuesday that “we are living in unprecedented times,” adding that he considers himself a “wartime speaker.”
“We need stable leadership, we need steady hands at the wheel,” he said.
Ellis Kim contributed reporting.
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