McGovern: Democrats won’t be ‘cheap date’ to help Speaker Johnson keep his job

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) needs to understand that House Democrats are not a “cheap date” and will need “something” in return to save his gavel from the motion to vacate introduced last month by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). 

“If Speaker Johnson wants help in staying as Marjorie Taylor Greene decides to move her resolution forward … then he has to understand that we are not a cheap date,” McGovern, ranking member of the Rules Committee, said during an appearance on “The Julie Mason Show” on SiriusXM. 

“There has to be something in here that we can justify to our constituents that in fact, justifies a vote to keep Speaker Johnson in office,” he said. “So, we will have to see how all of that plays out.” 

Greene has been intensifying her threat to oust Johnson, but some Democrats have said they would be willing to step in and save him depending on how he handled Ukraine aid, which was ultimately included in a foreign aid package that easily passed with bipartisan support this past weekend.  

“Mike Johnson’s Speakership is over,” Greene said in an interview with Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “He needs to do the right thing — to resign — and allow us to move forward in a controlled process. If he doesn’t do so, he will be vacated.”

Despite her measure getting support last week from two fellow GOP House lawmakers, Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.), the resolution has not yet gained the backing of other conservatives, who for months have been disappointed, like Greene, with Johnson’s bipartisan deal-making on major legislation. 

“I think we do the best we can with the Speaker that we have: influence him to the best of our ability, expose what we believe are wrong actions by, not just the Speaker, but everyone who is voting to support those actions — and have a contest to see who the conference can coalesce around as the best option in November,” said Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), head of the far-right Freedom Caucus, who was one of the eight Republicans who voted to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last October. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said the White House is not advising the House Democrats on what to do in case of Johnson’s potential ouster.