Speaker Johnson was called to resign over the issue of money for Ukraine

On Tuesday, Republican Thomas Massey, a vocal critic of continued aid to Ukraine, said he would join Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green in her bid to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson from office. According to him, Johnson should allow the Republican Party to choose a new leader and then resign.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Details: Johnson on Tuesday vowed to stay on as speaker despite facing the biggest challenge to his leadership since taking office last fall. The challenge was prompted by his efforts to pass long-awaited funding for Ukraine, Israel and other foreign allies.

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Johnson is now trying to get the complex four-part bill through the House by the end of the week. He relies heavily on Democratic votes and wants to keep his position.

A growing number of Republicans are indicating that they are disillusioned with his leadership. Deputies expressed concern about his proposal to pass four separate bills, combine them and send them to the Senate.

A new threat to Johnson’s speakership emerged Tuesday morning when Republican Thomas Massey, a vocal critic of continued aid to Ukraine, said he would join Marjorie Taylor Green in calling for her resignation. Green filed the proposal last month, but has not yet attempted to get it to a vote.

Massey said Johnson should let the GOP choose a new leader and then step down, arguing that a bid to vacate the seat now would garner more support than in October, when a group of eight rebellious Republicans orchestrated the resignation of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Johnson’s direct speech: “I’m not going to resign, and I think it’s an absurd notion that someone could be proposing to resign when we’re just trying to do our job.

We need firm hands at the wheel. I consider myself a wartime speaker. I didn’t expect this path to be easy.”

More details: Massey’s move comes amid frustration among a large bloc of conservatives that Johnson has repeatedly turned to Democrats for help passing bills to fund the government and other critical measures.

As of late Tuesday, however, no other Republicans had joined the resignation motion, and there was no indication that any lawmakers would replace Johnson if he is removed from office.

Johnson is under intense pressure from the White House and many lawmakers who are demanding a decision on funding Ukraine.

After repeated delays, Johnson unveiled a plan late Monday to bring four separate bills to the House floor, a maneuver aimed at breaking a long-running impasse over the $95 billion foreign aid package passed by the Senate earlier this year.

Leaders of both parties in Congress and President Biden urged Johnson to support the Senate bill. Instead, Johnson split the aid, trying to bypass a large group of Republicans, including Green and Massey, who oppose giving Ukraine more money.

Johnson said he planned to release the actual text of the measures as early as Tuesday, and the White House and congressional Democrats said they were awaiting details.

But by Tuesday afternoon, lawmakers and aides to Johnson said Johnson’s plan was to pass aid measures for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan separately, along with a bill that has several GOP priorities, such as curbs on TikTok, and then combine them and send them to Senate with one bill – falls apart.

Congressman French Hill said more people at the conference spoke in favor of individual bills rather than passing them together.

Republicans were also upset that the bill did not contain any immigration measures.

In a closed-door meeting of House Republicans Tuesday morning, Massey urged Johnson to announce his resignation now so Republicans can hold a leadership election before he steps down.

Democrats have said they will step in to save Johnson if Republicans try to remove him from office over Ukraine.

Congressman Jared Moskovich wrote on social media: “My position has not changed. Massey wants the world to burn, I will not stand by and watch. I have a bucket of water.”