Marjorie Taylor Greene’s latest move is pure chaos: She’s trying to oust Mike Johnson

Anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has filed a surprise motion to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) because Johnson allowed the House to vote on a $1.2 trillion government funding bill today that included funding for “trans ideology,” as she put it. The bill. which largely excluded her and other far-right Republicans’ desired anti-LGBTQ+ provisions, cleared the House this morning in a 286-134 vote.

“I filed the motion to vacate today, but it’s more of a warning and a pink slip,” Greene told reporters after filing the motion, according to CNN. “I respect our conference. I paid all my dues to my conference. I’m a member in good standing, and I do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and to throw the House into chaos.”

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Whenever the House formally recognizes Greene’s motion, it will have two days to consider whether to take action on it. The House is heading for a two-week recess, and Greene said she wouldn’t ask to be recognized on Friday. Instead, she will use the two-week recess to determine when to ask for her motion to be recognized.

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While speaking to reporters on Friday morning, Greene said that the bill “funds [diversity, equity, and inclusion policies]. It funds trans ideology on our youth as young as 12 years old. We’re already in crisis.”

She also falsely claimed that the bill funds full-term abortion,” meaning abortions up to the point that the fetus can live outside of the birthing parent, which isn’t legal anywhere in the United States. Earlier this week, she held a Hearing on Investigating the Black Market of Baby Organ Harvesting, and invited debunked conspiracy theorists who echoed her false claims.

Nonetheless, Greene’s complaints reflect those of conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus. Caucus members had tried to use budget negotiations to end government funding of any entity that “promotes transgenderism” or provides gender-affirming care; any federal agencies pursuing policies to expand diversity, equality, and inclusivity (DEI); any legal consequences for federal contractors who discriminate against LGBTQ+ people but claim their religion made them do it; and any implementation of the Department of Education’s rules requiring schools to accommodate trans students.

The newly released federal spending bill, unveiled on Thursday, contained almost none of the over 40 anti-LGBTQ+ “policy riders” that far-right Republicans wanted. The single anti-LGBTQ+ provision remaining in the bill prevents Pride flags from being flown over U.S. embassies in foreign countries, something that embassies can creatively work around. 

“Our Republican majority is a complete failure,” Greene wrote in a Thursday post on X, expressing her disapproval of the federal spending bill. “Speaker Johnson is funding the government that has created this invasion,” she wrote alongside video footage of immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. “I’m voting NO! SHUT IT DOWN!”

Greene recently appeared on the Real America’s Voice broadcast of Steve Bannon, a former official in the administration of President Donald Trump. She said she would evaluate whether to oust Johnson “on a minute-by-minute” basis.

In late 2023, Republican House members adopted a rule that allows them to easily oust their speaker. The rule was used to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in late 2023 after he worked with Democrats to pass a budget bill, something Johnson is now accused of doing.

It’s unclear who Republicans might choose as Johnson’s replacement, seeing as Johnson was literally the fifth choice for Speaker. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who spearheaded McCarthy’s removal late last year, said that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) could become the next speaker because of the Republicans’ slim House majority and infighting over party leadership.

“We’d have Republicans cross over. I worry that we’ve got Republicans who would vote for Hakeem Jeffries at this point. I really do,” Gaetz said. “I take no joy in saying that. But you can only vacate the speaker if you know that the party leadership won’t change hands. I knew that with certainty last time. I don’t know it with certainty this time.”