The House conservatives threatening to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are seeking assurances on government funding and aid to Ukraine, Fox News Digital is told.
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., met with Johnson behind closed doors for roughly two hours late Monday afternoon after promising last week to force a House-wide vote on his removal. They declined to give details to reporters immediately after the sit-down but said they would have a follow-up discussion with Johnson on Tuesday.
However, Fox News Digital was told they are broadly seeking four points – including no more funding for Ukraine nor special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into former President Trump.
They are also demanding that Johnson vow to block any legislation from getting a House-wide vote unless it has the support of a majority of the House GOP – a longstanding informal provision called the Hastert rule, named after a former Republican speaker.
On government funding, the conservatives are also pushing Johnson to adhere to the Massie rule, which would require automatic federal spending cuts if an agreement is not reached on fiscal year 2025 funding by the Sept. 30 deadline.
Fox News Digital reached out to Greene, Massie and Johnson’s offices for comment. A spokesman for Greene declined to discuss the contents of a private meeting.
Meanwhile, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., the third GOP rebel who signed onto Greene’s motion to vacate the chair – a resolution calling for a House-wide vote on removing the speaker – suggested to reporters on Monday evening that he wanted Johnson to have some more time to change course.
‘I don’t think it’s going to happen this week. I hope it doesn’t happen this week,’ Gosar told reporters. ‘I think it would be nice to see him go back to regular order, get things coming from committees, you get a majority of the majority to get something on the floor.’
Greene is leading the push to oust Johnson amid conservative frustrations over his bipartisan work on critical legislation related to government funding and foreign aid. She and Massie pledged to force the vote sometime this week.
To do so, she would have to notice her resolution as ‘privileged’ – meaning the House would have two legislative days to vote on the measure itself or first vote on scuttling it via a procedure known as ‘tabling’ the resolution.
Democrats have pledged to block the ouster vote by voting to table the resolution whenever it comes up, something that could save Johnson while also likely raising more conservative frustrations.
Johnson told reporters on Monday evening that his meeting with Massie and Greene was ‘lengthy’ but ‘constructive.’
‘We have discussed some ideas, and, we’re going to meet again tomorrow,’ Johnson said. ‘I just want to say, and I told them, and I’ve said this repeatedly, that I understand the frustration. I share it. I would really like to advance much more of our conservative policy on a daily basis here. But, the reality is we are working with the smallest majority in U.S. history with a one-vote margin.’
