Massie’s Move To Fire Speaker Mike Johnson Is About More Than Ukraine Spending
The clock might be ticking on Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s (R–La.) tenure.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) announced Tuesday that he would support Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R–Ga.) attempt to unseat Johnson, meaning that her motion to vacate the speakership could move to the House floor at any time in the coming days. In a post on X, Massie advised Johnson to announce his resignation in order to avoid a messy battle over picking a replacement—like the one that left the House in limbo for weeks last year after Kevin McCarthy was fired from the top job.
In a subsequent post, Massie clarified that his decision to support Johnson’s ouster was not due to any single issue. “This camel has a pallet of bricks,” he wrote.
Greene initially filed her motion to vacate the speakership last month after the House approved a $1.2 trillion spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. In recent days, Johnson has faced more criticism from his own party after the House narrowly voted down an amendment that would have required law enforcement agencies to seek warrants before using the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702 database to spy on Americans’ electronic communications. He’s also facing opposition over plans to have the House vote this week on a $95 billion package that would send military aid to Ukraine and Israel.
In remarks to Reason last year, Massie predicted that whoever replaced McCarthy (whose ouster Massie did not support) would likely steer the House in a direction he did not like. “We’re going to get the Schumer-McConnell special,” he said at the time, predicting that a divided House would leave Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R–Ky.) with the upper hand on key policy clashes.
On Tuesday, Massie reiterated that concern. “We are steering everything toward what Chuck Schumer wants,” he said. “If the country likes Chuck Schumer, t
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