Imperiled House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La,) touched on an Easter Sunday text exchange with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) as the duo were “expected to talk.”
(Video: Fox News)
After hanging the sword of Damocles over the speaker’s head in filing a motion to vacate over passage of the $1.2 trillion omnibus spending package to keep the federal government open, the threat of a vote remained just that.
With the House of Representatives in recess until April 8, Johnson joined Fox News host and former South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy for his program “Sunday Night in America” where they touched on the potential for yet another speaker fight in the lower chamber.
“How does this motion to vacate help win back the majority or win a bigger majority?” asked Gowdy as he focused on the election year implications.
“I don’t think it does,” responded Johnson, “and I think all of my other Republican colleagues recognize this as a distraction from our mission. Again, the mission is to save the Republic, and the only way we can do that is if we grow the House majority, win the Senate and win the White House. So we don’t need any dissension right now.”
Reminding that Greene’s filing was “not a privileged motion” and was not required to be brought to a vote — “It’s just hanging there” — the speaker noted that messages with Greene shared over Easter had preempted plans for a broader conversation.
“We’re going to talk early next week,” he told Gowdy.
“Marjorie’s a friend, she’s very frustrated about, for example, the last appropriations bills. Guess what? So am I,” said Johnson. “As we discussed, Trey, these are not the perfect pieces of legislation that you and I and Marjorie would draft if we had the ability to do it differently. But with the smallest margin in U.S. history, we’re sometimes going to get legislation that we don’t like, and the Democrats know that when we don’t all stand together with our razor-thin majority, then they have a better negotiation position, and that’s why we got some of the things we didn’t like.”
What the speaker glossed over during his remarks was the fact that the GOP members who had aligned with him were in the minority of the House Republican Conference as 112 had voted against advancing the bloated spending package and 101 had voted in favor. Among Democrats, 22 had voted against while Johnson’s coalition handed 185 members of President Joe Biden’s party an opportunity to tout a bipartisan victory with the final total of 286 to 134.
Fascinating details. 1) majority of GOP (101 to 112) voted NO, 2) 10 of the 20 GOP Committee Chairman voted NO. 3) of the 101 “YES” votes, the Cook PVI score for 32 of the “YES” votes is over R+15, and for 51 of them is over R+10. https://t.co/JB4iHIeDqB
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) March 23, 2024
It remains to be seen what would come of the discussion between Johnson and Greene but he expressed his intent to foster unity in the House as he told Gowdy, “I want to talk with her about reforming the budgeting and spending process going forward. That’s what Republicans are for, that’s the transformational kind of changes that we can forge if we all stand together.”
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
- Kimmel forces ABC to ‘think long and hard’ about what’s being broadcast under parent company Disney - April 28, 2026
- Don Lemon’s full on hissy fit over ‘saying Trump is terrible’: ‘Drives me f*cking crazy!’ - April 28, 2026
- Rogan fired up that liberal policies are allowing monsters to eat our house pets - December 17, 2025
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
2 thoughts on “Speaker Johnson details text exchange with MTG over motion to vacate”
Comments are closed.
Now is not the time. We need to at least appear unified if we are going to have a chance to keep the House and gain the Senate.
I am disappointed, too, with Speaker Johnson passing that God=awful bill, but let’s win a few elections before we try to, oust another Speaker.
Mr. Speaker…. it is your job to gather unity in the party in the House, and to oenalize thoise GOP representatives that don’t comply with the America First Constitutional Conservative agenda. No nmore Mr. Nice Guy. It’s balls to the wall, and time to get our agenda back in line.