A House Republican who voted to boot former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year wants to keep the same maneuver available for his successor.
Rep. Eli Crane, Arizona Republican, joined the ranks of frustrated arch-conservatives who have floated ousting House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, over his handling of spending and border security issues.
Mr. Crane was coy on whether he would actually follow through with a motion to vacate, the same procedural tool that he and seven other Republicans used to oust Mr. McCarthy. But he did not rule out the move.
“I’m not going to say whether I would or whether I wouldn’t, I think it’s a good tool, and I want it to stay on the table,” Mr. Crane said. “And you know, I may be a part of something in the future. We’ll see.”
Frustrations with Mr. Johnson have continued to simmer after he remains committed to the $1.66 trillion spending deal for fiscal 2024 that he negotiated with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, and has supported another stopgap bill to avert a partial government shutdown.
Those frustrations could boil over if the speaker accepts Democrats’ plan in the Senate’s negotiations to include border policy changes in President Biden’s $110 billion funding request for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Leaked details of the deal drew sharp criticism from conservatives across the House GOP, and from Mr. Johnson, who said he would only support the border deal if it included stringent border policies from the House’s Secure the Border Act.
Senate Republicans and Democrats have said that there is no way that the legislation, which among other key GOP border policies would restart former President Donald Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, would pass in the Senate.
Mr. Johnson met with Mr. Biden, along with the other congressional leaders, at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the president’s funding request. He vowed before the meeting to make border security a focal point of the meeting.
The speaker’s commitment to “real transformative policy change” on border security comes as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, has promised to move ahead with a motion to vacate if he reneges.
Like Ms. Greene, Mr. Crane’s trigger for supporting Mr. Johnson’s ouster might hinge on whether the speaker puts border security ahead of Ukraine funding.
“I think it’s preposterous that we’re sitting here and we’re holding this security on the southern border hostage over funding a war in Europe,” Mr. Crane said. “I think that’s ridiculous.”
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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