Spkr Johnson To Meet w/Taylor Greene Again In Effort To Avoid Ouster Vote

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is set to meet with GOP hardliner, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) for the second time in two days as the seniormost Republican in Congress seeks to avoid a motion-to-vacate the chair being brought against him. Meeting set to take place at 1230ET (1730BST, 1830CET). The two met for almost two hours on 6 May, with Taylor Greene refusing to state afterwards whether she would back down on her pledge made last week to bring forward a vote to oust Johnson.

• In the event a vote is called, it is not expected to be successful in ousting the Speaker given that the House Democratic leadership has said that it will vote to table any MtV and will not vote to remove Johnson from office.
• This could prove a short-term salve for Johnson's leadership, though. Any reliance on Democratic votes will open the Speaker up to attacks from the hard right of the Republican party. Given the extremely narrow majority Johnson is working with at present (217 GOP reps to 213 Democrats), any further loss of influence by the Speaker could do significant damage to his ability to get legislation passed prior to the November elections.