Imperiled Speaker Johnson Needs Dems’ Help to Pass Rule for Foreign Aid Vote as Motion to Vacate Gains Steam

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who faces ramped-up threats of a motion to vacate, will not have enough Republican votes for a rule to merge separate foreign aid bills for Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine, meaning he will need to turn to Democrats for help.

Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) both announced Tuesday morning that they are against the rule.

Biggs said he supported Johnson’s initial plan “announced in conference to allow the House to vote on the various aid packages separately. But his since-announced intent to merge them together before sending them to the Senate is wrong.”

“Israel funding should not be held hostage by Ukraine funding. The American people deserve to know where their senators stand on each funding component,” Biggs continued.

He contended the multiple-impact reentry vehicles rule (MIRV) used to combine the separate bills “is about as ridiculous as ranked choice voting. The least popular option is the one that wins.”

Fox News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram notes that under the MIRV, the House would vote on “four separate foreign aid bills – and then blend them into one for efficiency purposes before sending the package to the Senate.” The bills include aid for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, as well as “Additional help for Ukraine via a plan to repossess Russian assets and a ‘lease’ program.”

Similarly, Greene took to X to announce she was not in favor of combining legislation under a MIRV.

“NO, I am NOT voting for the rule on Johnson’s bundle of funding bills for billions more to Ukraine and other foreign wars,” she wrote.

“When Joe Biden signs HR2 into law and Schumer holds the Mayorkas impeachment trial in the Senate, I will agree to vote for the rule only,” she quipped.

She slammed Johnson for employing “dirty swamp tactics” and caving to Democrats, as she sees it.

“Speaker Johnson is not holding Democrats accountable nor leading our Republican majority, he’s actually giving in to Democrats every demand. And he’s using dirty swamp tactics to push through the America Last agenda,” she wrote.

As Republicans have just a one-vote majority, Johnson will need to work with Democrats to pass the rule to hold a vote.

However, Johnson was faced with a new and larger problem early Tuesday when Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) announced he was cosponsoring Greene’s motion to vacate the Speaker. This is the same mechanism Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) used to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October, which led to a Speakerless House for weeks until Johnson won the gavel.

“He should pre-announce his resignation (as Boehner did), so we can pick a new Speaker without ever being without a GOP Speaker,” Massie wrote in a post on X.

Earlier Tuesday morning, Massie was very critical of Johnson over multiple pieces of legislation, including the omnibus, the “expansion of the domestic warrantless surveillance program” in the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), as well as for “pushing… Schumer’s dream bill which contains $100 billion of foreign aid, mostly for war.”