As spending fight escalates, MTG threatens to vacate Johnson as House speaker

In the event that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) consents to a budget package of which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) does not approve, she has threatened to make a push to remove the speaker from his position of power.

During an interview with Real America's Voice, Greene expressed her consent to the removal of Johnson from his leadership position, according to a Washington Examiner report.

Greene made her threat, saying that in the event that he is unable to meet the expectations of hardline conservatives like herself, who are becoming increasingly disillusioned with Johnson's achievements, she would move forward.

Greene's Comments

“In my meeting with him yesterday and many other members of Congress, I let Speaker Johnson know that in no way shape and form will I support any type of [continuing resolution],” Greene declared.

“We aren’t continuing … Nancy Pelosi’s budget, and that if he moves forward with a separate deal trading our border security, weakening HR 2 in exchange for $60 billion to Ukraine, I told him yesterday in his office that I would vacate the chair, that that is absolutely unacceptable," she went on.

"And we actually have the power of the purse. We’re the ones that are in control, and we need to control the negotiation," Greene added.

It is most likely that Greene was referring to a meeting that Johnson attended on Thursday with a number of conservative senators, which he referred to as "thoughtful."

“We’re having thoughtful conversations about funding options and priorities,” Johnson said on Thursday. “While those conversations are going on, I made no commitments.”

Frustration Among Republicans

The dissatisfaction of conservatives was made public on Wednesday, when thirteen members of Congress voted against a procedural measure that effectively brought the United States Congress to a halt at that moment.

If Johnson were to reach a compromise with the Democrats, those legislators threatened to take additional action.

“We’re making a statement that what the deal as has been announced that doesn’t secure the border, and that doesn’t cut our spending — and it’s going to be passed, apparently, under suspension of the rules by predominantly Democrat votes — is unacceptable,” Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), chairman of the Freedom Caucus, said.