House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) didn’t rule out the possibility of removing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) from the position during an interview on Monday.
When CNN host Kaitlan Collins pressed the congressman on whether he would consider supporting a motion to vacate Johnson, which was the fate suffered by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Roy said, “Again, that’s not the road I prefer.”
Since being elected to the speakership in October following McCarthy’s historic ouster after just nine months on the job, Johnson has served in the role for 76 days, many of which the House has been out of session for a holiday recess.
Roy was responding Monday to a top-line spending framework agreed to by Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), in which the speaker committed to the $1.59 trillion number in last year’s Fiscal Responsibility Act. Eight hundred eighty-six billion dollars would be set for defense spending, while $704 billion would be used for nondefense.
“We’re spending more money we don’t have,” Roy said. “It’s just more of the same, and, you know, I wish Speaker Johnson [wasn’t] doing this. I’m very disappointed, and hopefully, we can try to figure out what we can do to change it in the next few days.”
Asked if he was holding Johnson responsible, the Texas Republican said, “Well, I mean, his office is doing the negotiating, so that’s the deal.”
Asked if the “real conversations” that House Republicans are going to have this week include potentially moving to oust Speaker Johnson, Rep. Chip Roy says “that’s not the road I prefer” but doesn’t rule it out. “It isn’t good.” pic.twitter.com/tBAIiQ4FSn
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 9, 2024
In reference to a possible motion to vacate the new speaker, Roy said, “You know, we’ve gone down that road. I didn’t prefer to go down that road with Speaker McCarthy.”
“We need to figure out how to get this all done together. But it isn’t good, and there’s a lot of my colleagues who are pretty frustrated about it,” he stressed.
Leaving the option on the table, he added, “We’ll see what happens this week.”
Roy voiced similar concerns in an interview with the Washington Examiner, suggesting there needs to be “real sober conversations about the state of the House GOP.”
“Let’s just say there’s a lot of conversations underway right now about our complete lack of confidence and where the Republican leadership is,” he added.
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The first funding deadline, as laid out in last year’s laddered continuing resolution, is Jan. 19.
Johnson’s office did not provide comment to the Washington Examiner.