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Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene washed her hands clean of any blame about giving power over to Democrats after her new bid to oust Speaker Mike Johnson.
Greene instead laid blame on Republicans who have left Congress before the end of their term, name-checking Reps. Ken Buck, R-Colo., and Mike Gallagher, Wis.
‘It’s just a simple math. The more Republicans, like Mike Gallagher, that resign and leave early — guess what, that means we have less Republicans in the House,’ Greene said Tuesday on Real America’s Voice. ‘So, every time a Mike Gallagher or a Ken Buck leaves early, that brings our numbers down and brings us dangerously closer to being in the minority.’
Buck had his last day on Friday, and Gallagher announced his shock resignation last week.
Once Gallagher leaves on April 19, Republicans will only be able to lose one vote and still pass party-line legislation. After a special election in California in May for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s seat, that number will go back up to two – one of the slimmest majorities in modern history.
But with Greene threatening Johnson’s speakership with a motion to vacate, some speculate he’ll be forced to be at the will of Democrats who could save him by voting down the motion.
Democratic sources have signaled they would vote to table – or kill – the motion if Johnson put Ukraine aid on the House floor, which Greene has long railed against.
‘It’s not Marjorie Taylor Greene that is saying the inconvenient truth and forcing everyone to wake up and realize Republican voters are done with us doing this kind of crap that we did last week,’ she added, referring to the $1.4 trillion spending bill.
‘I am not going to be responsible for Hakeem Jeffries being Speaker of the House,’ Greene said.
Some Republicans have left over the chaos of this congressional term. Speaker Kevin McCarthy resigned after he was kicked out of leadership and Buck has said Republican dysfunction sent him fleeing for the exits.
‘I am not going to be responsible for a Democratic majority taking over our Republican majority that lies squarely rarely on the shoulders of these Republicans that are leaving early because they don’t have the intestinal fortitude to handle the real fight and the responsibility that comes with leadership and the end of our republic when our country is nearly destroyed,’ Greene insisted.
Earlier this week Greene said Johnson had ‘failed’ Republicans by not forcing resigning Gallagher, a pragmatic and policy-focused conservative, to leave early enough to trigger a special election.
According to Wisconsin election law, a special election is triggered to replace House members if the seat opens up by the first week of April. If a seat becomes available after that, like Gallagher’s will, it may sit vacant until the following congressional term.
Greene said Speaker Mike Johnson had ‘failed’ Republicans by not forcing resigning Rep. Mike Gallagher to leave early enough to trigger a special election
‘Speaker Johnson should be forcing Mike Gallagher to leave early so that his district can hold a special election, and any strong Republican Speaker of the House would expel a member for leaving our razor-thin majority in such a delicate, delicate state. We cannot allow — we cannot allow this,’ Greene said Sunday on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.
‘Mike Gallagher betrayed all of us,’ Greene went on.
‘And Speaker Johnson, as the one who’s responsible for our majority, praised Mike Gallagher on Friday after he announced his departure, saying that he’s great and praising him and thanking him for his service in Congress,’ she added.
A source close to Gallagher told DailyMail.com: Gallagher’s decision was ‘difficult and personal’ and had come ‘after discussions with his family.’
‘House Republican leadership was made aware of and approved this timeline,’ the person said. ‘Moreover, when Vince Fong wins his election a few short weeks after Congressman Gallagher’s departure, this will be a one for one swap and the number of Republicans in the House will be the same.’
On Friday Greene filed a motion to vacate, or a resolution that could oust Johnson, over the spending bills he’d brought to the House floor. She said she would not immediately make the resolution privileged to force a quick vote, but meant it as a ‘warning and a pink slip.’
Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican and chair of the China subcommittee, issued a shock resignation announcement last week that could leave the House with the slimmest of majorities for the rest of the year
On Friday Greene filed a motion to vacate, or a resolution that could oust Johnson, over the spending bills he’d brought to the House floor
Greene fist bumping with Speaker Mike Johnson at the State of the Union, just two weeks before she launched a motion to vacate against him
But on Sunday, she had forceful words for the speaker too.
‘Johnson cannot remain speaker of the House.’
Gallagher already announced he was retiring at the end of his congressional term earlier this year after blowback for his vote against impeaching Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas.
‘After conversations with my family, I have made the decision to resign,’ Gallagher said in a statement. ‘Effective April 19.’
Gallagher, 39, has been in Congress since 2017. He shares two young daughters with his wife.
The policy-focused pragmatic conservative joins a slew of high-level retirements among the House Republican ranks, after a congressional term marred by chaos.
Just after Gallagher’s announcement, Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, announced she would be stepping down as chairwoman. She already announced she won’t be running for reelection next term.
Friday was Colorado Rep. Ken Buck’s last day after an early resignation, making him the fifth Republican this year to flee early or be expelled in the case of Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y.
