House Republican factions agreed Wednesday night on a change to the chamber’s rules that would make it tougher to oust the speaker in the manner that ex-Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., lost his job last year, and after some threatened the current speaker, Mike Johnson, with the same fate earlier this year.
The deal struck between members of the hard-line Freedom Caucus and the more centrist Republican Main Street Caucus would raise the bar for members to offer a “motion to vacate” the speaker’s chair by requiring additional members to sign on to such a privileged resolution.
During the 118th Congress, a single lawmaker could trigger such a motion, which Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. — who tendered his resignation Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump said he would nominate him for attorney general — used to strip McCarthy’s gavel. Under the deal worked out Wednesday, nine lawmakers would be required to support a motion to vacate before it could be entertained on the floor.
“We had an opportunity to set the motion to vacate at a higher [number],” Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., a Main Street leader, told reporters. “That motion to vacate will be set at nine in return for getting rid of some amendments that probably would have divided this conference.”
Members of the Freedom Caucus as well as aligned members like Gaetz last year successfully forced McCarthy into lowering the threshold to one member, after he’d offered a five-member requirement. During the prior years of Democratic control, the requirement was for a majority of either party to back such a motion.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., praised the agreement.
“We’ve been able to work across the conference to eliminate the controversial issues that could have divided us and move forward together to deliver on the president’s agenda,” Harris said at a news conference where he appeared with both Johnsons — Mike and Dusty.
For his part, Mike Johnson appears to be safe from a challenge, assuming the new rule is adopted. GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky triggered a motion to vacate Johnson’s position earlier this year, but Democrats joined most Republicans to table it, saving the speaker’s job.
Johnson still has to win a floor vote to be elected speaker in January. But now that Trump has firmly embraced Johnson’s speakership, including at a GOP conference meeting Wednesday, most threats to Johnson’s position have largely melted away.
But he was still thankful for the extra job security.
“We leave tonight united as a conference,” Johnson said Wednesday night, flanked by Harris and Dusty Johnson. “They worked together collaboratively to work with members across the conference with very different ideas and perspectives and come to an agreement about what all that would entail.”
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