There is a “cognitive disconnect” among colleagues who hate Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) spending bonanza but are planning to formally vote for him as Speaker in January, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) pointed out this week.
Massie became the first Republican in the House to publicly announce that he would not support Johnson in the speakership vote in January following his failure to initially negotiate a clean continuing resolution (CR). Instead, lawmakers were presented with a 1,547-page measure, which included a pay raise for Congress and provision allowing members of Congress to opt out of Obamacare, plus many, many more items.
“I’ll vote for somebody else,” Massie said, according to Politico. However, he did not say who he planned to support. “I’ve got a few in mind. I’m not going to say yet.”
While Johnson is scrambling to make amends, Massie seems to think it is too late.
WATCH — This Is an Actual Congresswoman: Dem Rep. DeLauro Goes on Rant After Pork-Filled Spending Bill Fails:
“There’s a cognitive disconnect among my colleagues who hated Speaker Johnson’s CR, but still plan to vote for @SpeakerJohnson in 2 weeks,” Massie observed.
“That 1557 page bill was a product of the swamp that uniparty Johnson was happy to facilitate,” the Kentucky lawmaker said. “He couldn’t understand why we didn’t lap it up.
Certainly, Johnson’s monstrous spending measure has rocked the boat of many lawmakers, some of whom will no longer overtly say that he has their vote in January.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to January 3. I mean, this does create a problem for the Speaker,” Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) said when asked by Breitbart News Daily’s Mike Slater if he would support Johnson in January. “There’s no doubt about it. Is this the leadership that we’re going to have?”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has also hinted that she could be open to supporting someone else as speaker.
“AND WE MUST STAND FIRM WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO STOP THE MADNESS!! No matter what. Even if we have to elect new leadership. I’m ALL IN,” she wrote.
Johnson, meanwhile, says they have a Plan C to avoid a government shutdown, which will happen if Congress does not reach a deal by the end of Friday.
“Yeah, yeah, we have a plan. We’re expecting votes this morning, so you all stay tuned. We’ve got a plan,” Johnson said.
Read the full article here