Democrats are offering to shield Republican Mike Johnson, speaker of the House of Representatives, from his own colleagues. The approval of aid to Ukraine for 61 billion dollars (about 57 billion euros) – within a broader package of 95 billion – provoked the anger of some of the members of the hard wing of the Republican Party. This raised fears of a motion of no confidence that could remove him, as happened with his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy. Democratic support, however, will allow him to continue in his position.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch Trumpist, even proposed a motion of censure against Johnson more than a month ago following the approval of the Administration’s financing laws. At the time, she pointed out aid to Ukraine as the new red line to activate it. When it passed, she was furious: “We have congressmen waving the Ukrainian flag on the House floor while we do nothing to secure our border. I think everyone in this country should be furious. “They are not serving their country,” she said then.
Several radical Republicans opposed to the approval of more funds for kyiv, such as Thomas Massie and Paul Gosar, also declared themselves in favor of removing the speaker,what the president is called. Although many conservatives were reluctant to repeat the spectacle of chaos and power vacuum that followed McCarthy’s impeachment, the Republican majority in the House is so narrow that if Democrats voted against it, Johnson’s job was in jeopardy.
Now, the Democrats come to the rescue of the speaker, even before a vote is proposed that is doomed in advance to failure. The paradox is that the progressive party shields an ultra-conservative evangelical Christian, anti-abortion activist, with radical positions against LGTBI rights, defender of cuts in social benefits and Trumpist electoral denier who led the legal efforts of a large group of Republican congressmen for annul Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential elections.
The leaders of the Democratic parliamentary group have expressed their support for Johnson in a statement in which they attack the Republicans for having “irresponsibly delayed” the aid finally approved for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, in a package that also includes aid funds. humanitarian aid to civilians in danger in places like Gaza, Haiti and Sudan. Aid to Ukraine was approved with 311 votes in favor, 112 against and one blank. But while all the Democratic votes were in favor, among the Republicans there were 101 in favor, 112 against and one blank.
Johnson’s performance in cutting up the aid package and unblocking the votes was key to his being able to move forward, in what was a clear political victory for Joe Biden. Now, Democrats are returning the favor. speaker. “At this moment, with the completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of pro-Putin Republican obstruction. We will vote to reject Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate the presidency. If she invokes the motion, she will not be successful,” the parliamentary group led by Hakeem Jeffries indicated in her note after a meeting.
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Greene’s response
Marjorie Taylor Greene has immediately responded to the Democratic statement. “What secret agreement did Johnson reach to obtain the support of the Democrats?” he tweeted in a message in which he stated: “He should resign, change parties and continue voting for Biden’s invasion of open borders in the United States, endless wars, free abortion without time limits, the trans agenda in children, warrantless spying on the American people, the instrumentalization of the Government against President Trump and his supporters, and all the other items on the Democratic wish list that he has delivered.”
The Republican congresswoman seems willing to go ahead with her motion of censure despite knowing that it is doomed to failure. “If the Democrats want to elect him speaker(and some Republicans want to support the speakerelected by the Democrats), I will give them the opportunity to do so,” he continued in his tweet. “Americans deserve to see the One-partyon full display. “I’m about to give them their launch party,” he adds.
Many House Republicans are eager to put behind them the divisions that have plagued their ranks since they took the majority last January. In a closed-door session on Tuesday morning, much of the debate focused on how to create unity in the party ahead of the November elections, in which the 435 seats in the House are renewed for a new two-term term. years.
Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., said Republicans heard from Michael Whatley, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, who emphasized that Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s likely presidential nominee, wants to unify the House majority. “What he wants is a unified Republican majority, so my message is the same as President Trump’s,” Barr said, according to AP.
For the Democrats, this Republican division has in practice allowed them to agree in decisive moments with the most moderate wing of the Republicans. Thanks to that and their majority in the Senate, they have been able to move forward in the last year with the suspension of the debt ceiling, the approval of the budget laws and the aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as main measures.
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