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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson addresses reporters after a House Republican meeting to discuss Iran’s attack on Israel at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
A defiant House Speaker Mike Johnson, facing growing threats to his speakership, said Tuesday that a second Republican lawmaker threatened to expel him over his handling of a bill to send foreign aid. In response, he said he would not resign and dismissed the gavel threat as “ridiculous.” To Ukraine and Israel.
The Louisiana Republican described himself as a “wartime orator” in troubled times after Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said he would co-sponsor an effort to oust Johnson from office and called for his resignation. expressed.
“I will not resign,” Johnson told reporters. “And for someone to bring an eviction motion while we’re here just trying to do our job is a ridiculous idea in my opinion.”
Republican hardliners are growing angry over Johnson’s complex plan to advance billions of dollars in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Mr. Massey told his Republican colleagues privately Tuesday morning that he would co-sponsor a motion to remove Mr. Johnson from office.
The comments come as a significant escalation in the far-right threat to Johnson’s leadership, which has dogged the Louisiana Republican since Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia introduced a resolution last month to vacate the speakership. It highlights what you are doing.
After Mr. Massey made the announcement, he was booed by his Republican colleagues, one of the people said, and Republican Rep. Trent Kelly of Mississippi stood up and criticized Mr. Massey and did not support the speaker. He said that was “wrong”.
“I asked him to resign,” Massey told CNN after the meeting. “He said he wouldn’t. And I said, ‘Well, you’re the one who’s going to put us in this.’ Because a motion is called. got it. Does anyone doubt that? If the motion were called, he would lose more votes than (former House Speaker) Kevin McCarthy, and I tipped him off to this a few weeks ago. ”
Massey’s comments come as Republicans control a slim majority and efforts to send foreign aid to Ukraine have divided the party, making it difficult for Johnson to pass a foreign aid package and potentially This indicates that there is a strong possibility that he will need to rely on Democratic votes to protect his job. .
But Johnson disputed Tuesday that he must rely on Democratic support to keep his job, insisting that House Republicans “are going to solve this problem.”
The text of the plan has not yet been released, leaving House Democrats to either bail out Johnson or vote against it and instead adopt the $95 billion Senate budget that Johnson refused to participate in for two months. He is still considering whether to put pressure on Republicans. House Democrats met Tuesday morning.
The first issue for Mr Johnson will be to approve the rules governing floor debate, a procedure that allows legislation to be passed with a majority vote. For decades, these rules have been passed along partisan lines, but divided Republicans have derailed them and blocked their agenda seven times this Congress.
At least one Republican, Greene, said he would vote against the rule. He and several others told CNN they were still considering how to vote.
In an announcement Monday, the Louisiana Republican expected the House to vote on separate bills Friday night. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed that schedule, saying he was aiming to submit a plan “by the end of the week.”
The House of Representatives passed a bill in November that would provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel, but Democrats complained that the bill did not include aid to Ukraine and would enact funding cuts to the Internal Revenue Service. I objected.
The Senate passed a $95.3 billion foreign aid bill in February that included aid for Ukraine, Israel and other priorities.
This article and heading have been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Morgan Rimmer contributed to this report.
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