[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1209 Laid on Table in House (LTH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1209
Declaring the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives to be
vacant.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 8, 2024
Ms. Greene of Georgia submitted the following resolution; which was
laid on the table
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Declaring the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives to be
vacant.
Whereas the House Republican Conference elected Mike Johnson on October 25,
2023, after three-and-a-half weeks of trying to decide on a new Speaker
of the House;
Whereas Mike Johnson sent the Republican Conference a letter making promises as
to what type of Speaker he would be and outlining his plans going
forward. Mike Johnson put forth seven tenets that would guide the
Conference under his speakership:
(1) Restore trust by ensuring total transparency, open processes, and
regular order.
(2) Advance a comprehensive policy agenda supported by Conference
consensus.
(3) Promote individual Members, and thus the whole team, by working to
understand and emphasize each Member's unique strengths, district dynamics
and challenges, and individual goals and objectives.
(4) Engage Members in productive working groups to formulate solutions
in key policy areas and enhance our internal communications and team
building.
(5) Effectively message to persuasively inform the Republican base and
the American people of our policy agenda, why we are pursuing it, and how
it will ensure liberty, opportunity, and security for all Americans.
(6) Build and utilize external coalitions in the conservative
ecosphere, including think tanks, policy groups, and other allied
organizations that can contribute to our efforts.
(7) Develop and grow our majority by building upon our resources and
expanding the base to successfully advance our conservative vision and
agenda.
Whereas Speaker Johnson has not lived up to a single one of his self-imposed
tenets;
Whereas Speaker Johnson allowed the Conference only one day, rather than 72
hours, to review a 1000-plus page bill to which no amendments could be
offered, rather than ``ensure total transparency, open processes, and
regular order;''
Whereas Speaker Johnson worked with Democrats to produce appropriations texts,
NDAA text, and other legislative items, rather than with Republicans
``to understand and emphasize each Member's unique strengths and engage
with them;''
Whereas Speaker Johnson relied on majority Democrat support to pass a two-part
omnibus spending bill, rather than ``advancing a policy agenda supported
by Conference consensus;''
Whereas, on December 1, 2023, Speaker Johnson failed to protect the Republican
majority when he allowed multiple votes to remove another Republican
from the House of Representatives. It was unprecedented for a Member to
be removed from Congress by a two-thirds vote prior to conviction of a
crime. To this day, the Republican expelled from the House under Speaker
Johnson has not been convicted of a crime. Meanwhile, a Democrat now
holds that seat;
Whereas Speaker Johnson supported fully funding abortion, the trans agenda, the
climate agenda, foreign wars, and Biden's border crisis, rather than
``ensuring liberty, opportunity, and security for all Americans;''
Whereas Speaker Johnson relied on Democrat votes on at least two occasions, with
the first transgression occurring on March 22, 2024, with House passage
of H.Res. 1102--Part 2 of the Johnson/Schumer omnibus--and the second
transgression occurring on April 20, 2024, with House passage of H.R.
8035--the 61-billion-dollar Ukraine funding bill. On both occasions, the
``majority of the majority''--112 Republicans--voted against the
measures, while only 101 voted in favor;
Whereas before Kevin McCarthy was ousted as Speaker, our Conference had passed
seven appropriations bills, which were some of the strongest
conservative bills passed in decades. Speaker Johnson refused to
continue this important process. He instead led us to another CR on
January 18, 2024, and got it passed with the support of 207 Democrats
and only 107 Republicans, while 106 Republicans voted against it;
Whereas Speaker Johnson passed a third CR, this time calling it a ``process
CR,'' as if that made continuing Nancy Pelosi's budget yet again any
different from the previous CRs;
Whereas with little to no communication with our conference, Speaker Johnson
passed the first minibus appropriations bill on March 6, and passed the
second minibus appropriations bill two weeks later, on March 22;
Whereas, a two-part omnibus, split into two minibuses, was crammed down our
throats and passed under suspension of the rules, with only one day to
review it;
Whereas Speaker Johnson's omnibus did nothing to stop Biden's deadly border
invasion--it fully funded it. Mike Johnson did nothing to stop the
energy-killing Green New Deal climate agenda--he fully funded it. He did
nothing to stop the weaponized DOJ and FBI--he fully funded them. He did
nothing to stop the trans agenda on kids--he fully funded it. He did
nothing to stop full term abortions--he fully funded them. He did
nothing to stop the fueling of foreign forever wars--he fully funded
them;
Whereas, on April 18, 2024, the Rules Committee passed H. Res. 1160--the rule
providing for consideration of the 95-billion-dollar foreign funding
package--by a vote of 9 to 3. Notably, all Democrat members of the
Committee voted to advance the measure to the floor while three
Republicans opposed it. It is unprecedented for members of the minority
party to advance a resolution out of the Rules Committee. Since 1995,
there have been a few instances of rules advancing out of Committee with
minority support; however, H. Res. 1160 is the only instance where this
was done to bypass opposition from members of the majority party;
Whereas the last instance an appropriations measure which passed the House
failed to include a ``majority of the majority'' was on final passage of
the FY2015 Department of Homeland Security House appropriations bill
during the 114th Congress. In the months following this failure, Speaker
Boehner announced his resignation;
Whereas, in a January 26, 2024, ``Dear Colleague,'' Speaker Johnson called the
Senate supplemental and border security legislation, ``dead on arrival
in the House.'' Likewise, in January 2024, Speaker Johnson took a trip
to the U.S. Mexico border where he said, ``If President Biden wants a
supplemental spending bill focused on national security, it better begin
by defending America's national security;''
Whereas, in the months following his border trip, Speaker Johnson introduced a
95-billion-dollar foreign aid supplemental with no border security
attached;
Whereas excuses like, ``this is just how you have to govern in divided
government,'' are pathetic, weak, and unacceptable. Even with our razor-
thin Republican majority, we could have at least secured the border,
with it being the number one issue in the country, and the issue that is
causing Biden to trail President Trump in poll after poll;
Whereas Speaker Johnson's capitulation on his promise to secure the border came
on the heels of Laken Riley being brutally murdered, women and children
being raped by illegal alien monsters, and our own Border Patrol and
Texas National Guard being run over by hordes of military-aged illegals;
Whereas great legislation like H.R. 2 and the Laken Riley Act are only messaging
bills unless we fight to enforce them in our government funding bills;
Whereas, while serving on the House Judiciary Committee, Mike Johnson was a
strong defender of individual liberties and was the Chair of the
Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government. Despite his
history as a defender of civil liberties, on April 12, 2024, Mike
Johnson cast the deciding vote against requiring a warrant for U.S.
person queries of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section
702 data;
Whereas our Conference could have also taken out funding for abortion and the
trans agenda on kids if our own Speaker would have allowed us to offer
amendments. Instead, Mike Johnson worked with Chuck Schumer rather than
with the Conference, and gave Joe Biden and the Democrats everything
they wanted--no different from how a Speaker Hakeem Jeffries would have
done;
Whereas Speaker Johnson fully funded Special Counsel Jack Smith's witch hunt and
91 indictments against President Trump, our Republican Presidential
nominee. House Republicans could have used our power of the purse to
stop this, but Speaker Johnson didn't even let us try;
Whereas Joe Biden's weaponized DOI is arresting a new January 6th election
protestor every single day and putting nonviolent political enemies,
including veterans, mothers and fathers, and grandparents in jail for
years;
Whereas our pro-life Christian conservative Republican Speaker Mike Johnson
fully funded the DOJ as it is prosecuting and convicting peaceful pro-
life activists who are facing eleven years in jail, again refusing to
allow Republicans to offer amendments to stop these injustices;
Whereas actions are the only thing that matter, and words are meaningless
without following through on them. By passing the Democrats' agenda and
handcuffing Republicans' ability to influence legislation, our elected
Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has aided and abetted the Democrats and
the Biden administration in destroying our country;
Whereas removing this Uniparty Speaker will not give the Speaker's gavel to the
Democrats, which would only happen if Republicans actually vote, for
Hakeem Jeffries. In fact, Minority Leader Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi, and
other high-ranking Democrats have publicly stated they will save Mike
Johnson from a vote to vacate him. In a recent interview, Minority
Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, ``Even though we're in the minority. . .We
effectively have been governing as if we were in the majority;''
Whereas our country is nearly 35 trillion dollars in debt, and about 40 billion
dollars are added to the debt every day. Our border is overrun by
illegal invaders and terrorists from over 160 countries. Our people are
being killed by the hundreds every single day by fentanyl, and Mike
Johnson refuses to do anything about it;
Whereas Mike Johnson is ill-equipped to handle the rigors of the job of Speaker
of the House and has allowed a Uniparty--one that fuels foreign wars,
tramples on civil liberties, and increases our disastrous national
debt--to take complete control of the House of Representatives; and
Whereas Speaker Johnson's tenure is defined by one self-serving characteristic:
When given a choice between advancing Republican priorities or allying
with Democrats to preserve his own personal power, Johnson regularly
chooses to ally himself with Democrats: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the office of Speaker of the House of
Representatives is hereby declared to be vacant.
<all>