OPINION:
A threatened vote of no confidence clouds House Speaker Mike Johnson’s future. The Louisiana Republican disappointed conservatives last week after he crammed massive spending and security bills through the lower chamber without meaningful debate or amendment.
The first sign of trouble came last month after Mr. Johnson cut a deal with the White House on a $1.2 trillion spending bill that ratified Democratic Party priorities with nothing (aside from earmarks) for fiscal hawks. On Saturday, Mr. Johnson betrayed his past positions to advance a measure expanding the FBI’s much-abused power to spy on its domestic political enemies.
The about-face came after Mr. Johnson received “the talk” in a closed-door meeting with government snoops.
“When I was a member of the Judiciary [Committee], I saw the abuses of the FBI, the terrible abuses, hundreds of thousands of abuses,” he explained. “And then I became speaker, went to the [secure meeting room] and got the confidential briefing from the other perspective of that to understand the necessity of Section 702 of FISA.”
Mr. Johnson’s sudden embrace of the very tools partisan federal agents used to interfere in the 2016 election delighted the White House. So did Saturday’s House vote to ship $61 billion in added funding to Ukraine. A minority of Republicans sided with all of the Democrats to push the bill through on a 311-112 vote.
This may be the last straw for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, who could call a vote to vacate the speaker’s chair. She believes it’s unacceptable that the GOP received nothing in return for checking off all the must-do items on President Biden’s legislative wish list.
This is the same mentality that led to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy getting the boot — a misstep that shrunk the GOP majority by three critical votes.
Ms. Greene’s complaints aren’t unfounded, but she’s wrong if she imagines results would improve with someone else at the helm. Had Mr. Johnson not caved on Ukraine, Democrats could have held their ground and used a discharge petition to adopt an open-ended foreign aid bill. With a veto-proof majority on record favoring endless war, there would have been no stopping it.
Leaving the speaker’s chair empty opens the door to party-switching or early resignation shenanigans that could easily hand the gavel to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat. It’s dangerous to toy with this power, especially as the stakes have been raised.
On Friday, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who would become Homeland Security Committee chairman in a Democratic-led House, introduced what he’s calling the DISGRACED Act. This spiteful measure would strip Secret Service protection from Donald Trump.
Mr. Thompson seeks to clear away obstacles so that Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan, a Biden campaign donor, can send the former president to a maximum-security prison on preposterous charges related to entries in a business ledger.
No matter the complaints one might have about Mr. Johnson’s choices, nothing could compare to the civil unrest Democrats are poised to unleash should they retake full control of the legislative branch.
Mr. Johnson can block the worst Democratic impulses, but he can’t do much else when his own conference isn’t unified. Better results can come only if conservatives start voting in primary elections to replace the rank-and-file Republicans who consistently side with the swamp over the public.
Ms. Greene’s efforts would be better spent persuading her colleagues to stick together while working toward a conservative majority.
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