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[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>
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