I want my MTV (Motion to Vacate): Speaker Johnson faces potential threat when Congress returns

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Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers of The Police all yelled into the digicam: “I want my MTV!”

Then got here Pat Benatar, doing the identical factor, adopted by Pete Townshend of The Who, all demanding their “MTV.”

Finally, The Police present again up on the display screen. They warble one thing which sounds roughly just like the tune of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman.” Then hoist phone receivers.

“Call your cable company… and sing ‘I want my MTV!’” The Police ordered.

And to assume that lawmakers have been mad about TikTookay imploring youngsters to cellphone Congress, urging a no vote on a invoice to curb use of the social media app within the U.S.

Well, there are a number of lawmakers who want their MTV, too. Many really want it will go away.

When it comes to MTV, we’re not speaking about “Music Television.”

SPEAKER JOHNSON: I UNDERSTAND AND AGREE WITH REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE’S CONCERNS

Rep Marjorie Taylor Green

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a movement to unseat Speaker Mike Johnson. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In this occasion, MTV means a “motion to vacate” the chair. That’s the formal parliamentary maneuver to drive a speaker of the House out the door. But in congressional shorthand, it is an “MTV.”

When do Martha Quinn, Nina Blackwood and Alan Hunter present up?

So guess who desires her MTV?

MTG – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

Video Killed the Radio Star. But a profitable MTV may kill the political way forward for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

Greene just lately prepped an MTV, telling Johnson to Beat It. This is similar gambit Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., engineered to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., final fall.

Mike Johnson

A profitable MTV may kill the political way forward for House Speaker Mike Johnson. (Getty Images)

“Speaker Johnson has betrayed our conference and broken our rules,” Greene stated after introducing her measure final month to take away the speaker.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE FILES MOTION TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON

She was incensed that Johnson acceded to an settlement with Democrats to keep away from a authorities shutdown and ignored the House’s inner “72 hour rule” to learn laws earlier than taking a vote. The House handed the invoice, 286-134. But solely 101 Republicans supported it in contrast to 112 no’s – regardless of the GOP operating the House.

“This bill was basically a dream and a wish list for Democrats and the White House,” Greene stated. “I do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and throw the House into chaos. But this is basically a warning. It’s time for us to go through the process. Take our time. And find a new speaker of the House that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority instead of standing with Democrats.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene during Biden State of the Union address

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene talks as President Biden delivers his State of the Union handle on March 1, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool, File)

Greene added that “the clock has started.”

Clock the Heart? Boy George and Culture Club? Hardly. It’s extra like Greene is channeling “With or Without You” by U2 when it comes to Johnson.

The speaker may desire one other choice. Perhaps the legendary video Take On Me by the band a-ha.

So who precisely would “take on” Johnson? Who would want the job? Could the Republican-controlled House even elect a brand new speaker? House Republicans churned by three speaker candidates and greater than three weeks earlier than they settled on Johnson final fall.

Johnson could also be left saying “domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,” if Greene forges forward together with her transfer.

It’s necessary to notice that Greene didn’t set off her MTV instantly. A “motion to vacate the chair” is of excessive privilege within the House. If Greene insists that the House think about her no confidence vote for Johnson, the House should deliver it up on the spot or inside two legislative days. The House is out of session till April 8, so nothing will occur instantly. But notice that Greene’s MTV measure doesn’t belong to her. Now that Greene offered her MTV, any House member may seize it and require the House to think about it. The decision isn’t Greene’s “prerogative,” as Bobby Brown may sing.

It’s even attainable – however not going – that the House Republican management or a Johnson ally may put Greene’s decision on the ground and drive a vote in the event that they thought the speaker would prevail. That transfer would euthanize Greene’s effort and reveal that Johnson has the assist he wants to stay speaker. Think of that transfer as calling Greene’s bluff to present that Johnson would have the votes to defeat an rebellion.

Representative Kevin McCarthy,

Former Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker of the House within the fall of 2023. (Kent Nishimura)

Greene’s tactic mirrors what former Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., did in the summertime of 2015. The future Trump White House chief of workers drafted a really comparable decision to attempt to oust then-House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. But like Greene, Meadows simply filed his movement. He didn’t launch it, requiring the House to think about the plan.

No idiot, Boehner took a web page out of Young MC’s songbook and busted a transfer out of Congress by autumn.

Last October’s shock removing of McCarthy adopted an analogous path with the MTV. Gaetz crafted a decision to demand a confidence vote on the previous speaker.

“We intend to use it,” stated Gaetz, including {that a} MTV “is not something that we put on a shelf to admire.”

However, for what it’s value, a duplicate of Gaetz’s decision was found on a child altering desk within the first flooring males’s room of the Capitol. Really.

McCarthy was doomed as quickly as he put an interim spending invoice on the ground and handed it largely with Democratic votes in late September. Gaetz demanded the House think about his MTV shortly thereafter. The first vote was on the movement to desk or put aside the decision. But McCarthy lacked the assist to survive on the movement to desk. Had the House voted to desk, Gaetz’s gig was up. But the House defeated the movement to desk. That prompted an up/down vote on the MTV itself. And the House voted to throw out its speaker for the primary time in historical past.

Matt Gaetz

GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz was behind the decision to oust former Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker. (Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)

Or as Prince may sing in “1999,” “Life is just a party. And parties weren’t meant to last.”

It is usually believed that Johnson may fare higher than McCarthy if Greene made her MTV “live.” First of all, members from each side have been completely exasperated ultimately fall’s calisthenics to elect a brand new speaker. Second, it’s believed a Democrat or two could intervene to salvage Johnson and keep a modicum of continuity within the House.

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But right here’s the rub: The House Republican majority has shriveled to simply a few votes. On any given day, a lawmaker might be out sick, or attending a funeral, have a flight canceled. The proper (or fallacious) cocktail of votes current within the House on any given day makes this a precarious place for Johnson.

To quote the philosopher-king Jon Bon Jovi, Johnson could also be “Livin’ on a Prayer.”

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