Greene’s red line
Warning to Johnson on Ukr. aid
Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene warned her congressional colleagues Tuesday she would move to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson should Congress pass military aid for Ukraine but hold off on approving conservative priorities like US border enforcement.
“I will not tolerate our elected Republican Speaker Mike Johnson serving the Democrats and the Biden administration and helping them achieve their policies that are destroying our country,” Greene (R-Ga.) wrote in a scathing “Dear Colleague” letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Post, explaining her threat to remove Johnson (R-La.) over an additional $60 billion in Ukraine funding.
“This has been a complete and total surrender to, if not complete and total lockstep with, the Democrats’ agenda that has angered our Republican base so much and given them very little reason to vote for a Republican House majority,” Greene added.
The rabble-rouser accused Johnson of “throwing our own razorthin majority into chaos by not serving his own GOP conference that elected him” — as her threat to oust him hangs in the balance.
“I think all of my other Republican colleagues recognize this is a distraction from our mission,” the speaker said on Fox News March 31 of Greene’s motion to vacate the chair, which she filed March 22. “She’s very frustrated about, for example, the last appropriations bills.”
Greene filed her motion as the House was voting to approve $1.66 trillion in federal spending packages for the remainder of fiscal year 2024 and later threatened to force a vote on the resolution if Johnson brings Ukraine aid to the floor.
The motion to vacate is not privileged, meaning it did not immediately receive a vote but can be called up if the Georgia congresswoman chooses to change its designation.
Greene accused Johnson of changing positions on the Ukraine-Russia war since he was elevated to speaker — and of being on the wrong side of the issue from voters, with recent polling finding that nearly three-quarters support a negotiated peace.
Officials from NATO nations, President Biden and the congressional Gang of Four — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — have all called on Johnson to pass Ukraine funding.
The Senate in February passed a $95 billion national security supplemental bill with funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but it
has languished in the House.
Greene went on to accuse Johnson of failing to live up to the “seven tenets” of conservative leadership that he pledged would guide his leadership decisions by passing millions of dollars in leftwing earmarks.
“Allowing us one day, rather than 72 hours, to review a 1,000plus-page bill to which no amendments could be offered was not ‘ensuring total transparncy, open processes, and regular order,’ ” she said of the government funding bill that prompted her motion to vacate.
“We could have at least secured the border, with it being the number one issue in the country,” she added.
Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.