Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an early Tuesday interview that he does not think Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) would be removed from his post if he puts the Ukraine supplemental aid package on the floor for a vote.
Meeks said on on “CNN News Central” that he thinks enough Democrats would join with Republicans to save Johnson if Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) follows through on her threat to force an ouster vote.
“I think so, in talking to some of my colleagues on the Republican side, and even some on the Democratic side,” Meeks said on whether Johnson would keep his job if Greene forces a vote on his ouster.
“As long as we are able to put the supplemental on the floor and vote to make sure that Ukraine gets the resources that it needs, he should not be removed for that. In my estimation, I don’t think he will,” Meeks continued.
House lawmakers are arriving in Capitol Hill on Tuesday following a two-week holiday recess. Before legislators returned to their districts in late March, Greene filed a motion to vacate the Speaker’s chair, threatening a vote against Johnson.
Throughout the recess period, Greene has not backed down from her demands, warning Johnson against any floor action on Ukraine aid. Johnson has pledged to put Ukraine aid on the floor for a vote when Congress returns from recess, but has not laid out what that package would look like.
As Johnson faces growing pressure from the far-right flank of his party that has come out against Ukraine aid, some Democrats have floated the possibility of voting to keep Johnson in power if Greene forces a motion to vacate.
When former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) faced a motion to vacate, Democrats opted against saving his Speakership. With such a slim GOP majority, that meant just a handful of Republicans had the power to remove McCarthy from power by joining with Democrats in favor of the motion oust him.
Now, however, some Democrats are signaling the calculus might be different, as they’ve tried for months to get Ukraine aid through without success.
Meeks said Tuesday that if the House Democratic leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), asks him to save Johnson, he would do so.
“Yeah. Hakeem’s the leader,” he said. “But you know, and I can tell you from my position I know how urgent it is to get the aid into Ukraine and to get it there now. It needed to be there yesterday. And so that’s what’s important.”
“So it’s got to be the Senate’s bill that has already passed,” he added, noting that any revisions to the bill that the Senate already passed would only add more time before it gets to the president’s desk.